Always Dreaming
by Kagami Kyohara
Summary: During a battle against Madara Uchiha, Naruto gets pulled into the Kamui and sent straight to Zanarkand, the city of machina. But when Sin attacks, and Naruto is taken again, this time to Spira, how will things turn out? Naruto/FFX, Naruto/Harem.
1. Chapter 1: To Zanarkand

Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Final Fantasy X. They belong to Kishimoto-sempai and Square Enix/Squaresoft respectively. Note, I will not put this in again. So if anyone writes saying I forgot the disclaimer, I will have Sin rape you.

**Chapter 1, This Is Your Story**

_Listen to my story...This may be our last chance..._

A beaten, bruised and bloodied Naruto lay coughing on the ground as Madara stood over him, giving off a low chuckle as he crossed his arms over his chest. Sasuke laid a few metres away in a pile of rubble, his own sword impaled in his chest. The jinchuuriki tried to stand, but his arms were nearly destroyed from extended use of the Rasengan and Rasenshuriken. Madara looked down at him, eyes blazing with his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.

"You have been a thorn in my side for too long, Kyuubi," Madara said in a calm, menacing tone. "Now, your bijuu's power will be mine, and the Juubi will awaken. There is nothing more you can do to halt the course of fate."

'I can't believe I'm just gonna lose here...This can't be happening! Why am I here? Why have I come all this way? It's all for nothing if I don't win! I...wanna win...I...NEED TO WIN!' Naruto shouted in his mind, as a red aura began to form around him. Madara looked unimpressed and simply stamped down on Naruto's chest, but his foot was caught by a clawed hand. He raised an eyebrow at the blonde shinobi's reflexes, and jumped away as a beam of pure youki shot straight for his face. Naruto jumped up from the ground, landing in a crouch with his claws digging into the soft dirt. The ground began to burn as the chakra cloak intensified, covering Naruto's entire body as two ethereal tails floated behind him.

"**I thought I told you already...it's a big problem for me if you get yourself killed..." **Naruto said in a deep, demonic voice. Madara noticed this and his eyes narrowed.

"Kyuubi. I see you deigned my worthy to face in person." He said, taking a mocking bow.

"**I'm simply settling a score, Uchiha Madara...Your Sharingan will not help you this time. This time, you are vulnerable and I will destroy you, make no mistake of that." **Kyuubi said, baring its fangs. The possessed jinchuuriki raced forward, aiming to take a swipe at Madara's cloaked torso. The last Uchiha tried to jump backwards but was caught across the chest with a chakra-enhanced slash, the flesh around the wound burning instantly. His eyes widened as he saw the claws actually harm him.

'What? Why isn't the Sharingan protecting me?' He thought, having to clench his teeth to keep from crying out in pain, his eyes screwed shut. Kyuubi took this time to attack again, rebounding off of a large rock in order to fly at the pain-stricken Uchiha. Madara opened his eyes in time to use Amaterasu, forcing the bijuu to change its course. The beast landed on all fours with his back to his opponent and lashed out with a foot, connecting with Madara's leg and sweeping his feet out from under him. He fell to the ground, where Kyuubi pounced at him, intent on ripping his heart out. Madara countered with a Goukakyuu no Jutsu, the bijuu being thrown into the air by the force of the jutsu.

The true Akatsuki leader then glared at Naruto with his narrowed Sharingan eyes, activating the Kamui in order to incapacitate his opponent. He aimed the rift for Naruto's right arm, hoping to halt any further attacks. However, Kyuubi's slash had taken its toll. He could not fully control his body due to the pain, and so his eye moved, aiming instead for the jinchuuriki's torso. The dimensional rift opened and began to pull Naruto into it. Madara's eyes widened in shock and anger, and tried to deactivate the doujutsu. However, it was too late. The jutsu had taken effect, and Naruto had been swallowed into the rift, leaving only a few wisps of youki behind. Madara fell to his knees and slammed his fist into the ground in rage, as he had just lost the final key to his mission.

"Damn...I have failed..."

* * *

Naruto stood before the Kyuubi's cage, the sewer waters running thick with red youki, looking almost like blood. "Kyuubi? What's happening? I should be dead after that jutsu, we both should be."

"**That jutsu did what it was made to do. It sent you and by default, me, to another dimension. Which dimension, I'm afraid, I do not know. But I'm sure that wherever you are, it will be better than with those ungrateful bastards in the village."**

"That answers one of my questions. Now, how do we get back?"

"**Well, we can't. The odds are about a trillion to one of getting the right one, and neither of us has the energy to survive another jump. The only reason we survived this one is because I made a few changes."**

This set Naruto on edge. "What kind of changes?"

The Kyuubi chuckled nervously, if possible, and told Naruto what he had done. **"Weeeell, the only way your body would have survived the jump, being that the space between dimensions, Kamui, is practically made of blades and is constantly trying to rip you apart, is if your regenerative abilities were on the level of a bijuu's. However, your ningen body couldn't handle the strain of all that youki running through your system, so I had to use my power to force your body to emulate a bijuu. This, unfortunately, had a few side effects."**

"So what, I'm a demon now?"

"**Not exactly. You've been transformed into a hanyou, a half demon. Your strength and speed have been heightened considerably, as have your senses and sheer amount of chakra. You will be able to use my demonic arts, and any children you may have will also be hanyou, unless of course your mate is a demon. And the only price for this is ears and a tail..." **

"I'm sorry, what?"

"**I had to give you ears and a tail! They're just too cute!"** The demon said, forcing a sweat drop down Naruto's forehead. **"What? Can't a girl like cute things?"**

"You're a girl?"

"**You didn't know? I thought it was painfully obvious."**

"Well, I did notice you were slightly more bloodthirsty during certain times of the month..." Naruto said with a grin, eliciting a growl from Kyuubi. "So, do you look like a giant demonic fox all the time?"

"**Actually, no. I have a human form, as do almost all of the bijuu. Would you like me to show you?" **Kyuubi asked, while Naruto nodded. A wave of red youki surrounded the fox like a tornado, obscuring it from view entirely. When it dispersed, what stood behind the golden bars was not what Naruto was expecting. He was expecting some old hag or a bodybuilder-type woman. What he got was a teenage girl possibly a little younger than him, with long crimson hair reaching down to the back of her thighs. She wore a red kimono tied shut with a dark grey obi, the sleeves of the kimono adorned with dark grey cloud designs. She stood barefoot, an orange tail swaying behind while two fox ears sat atop her head. She was, in Naruto's eyes, beautiful. Even more so than Sakura. It even made him question why he had ever bothered with Sakura, being that she wasn't all that beautiful or kind or anything he had labelled her as.

"So, what do you think? Or do you still like Sakura better?" Kyuubi asked, putting on a mock hurt tone when she said the second part.

"Sakura? Who's Sakura?" Naruto joked. Kyuubi smiled, and all that Naruto could think of was how it made her seem even more beautiful.

"Well, it's obvious you're completely gobsmacked with my looks. But for now, I think you should go back outside to find out where we are." She said pointing back out towards the tunnel.

"Do I have to? I'd rather stay here." Naruto complained, making Kyuubi laugh.

"You can come back later. Since it's obvious you'd rather stay here with me, I'll give you a little parting gift." She said, as she sauntered up to him. She pressed her lips to his as she placed a hand on his chest. As she pulled away, she put more pressure on Naruto's chest, pushing him down into the water. Before he hit the ground, however, he was swallowed up by youki and transported out of his mindscape. He awoke, however, in the last place he thought he would. A bundle of orange cloth on a harbour.

'Quick question, why the fuck am I a baby?'

"**Oh, that'll be because to save you from Kamui your regeneration power went into overdrive and went a little too far. So it kinda regenerated the years you lost in life. So you're back to being a cute little baby. Good luck!" **Kyuubi told the newborn Naruto before cutting off the mental connection.

"What the hell? Why does this always happen to me? Can't I ever get a break? This is your doing, isn't it? Kami, you asshole!" Naruto shouted to nobody in particular. However, being a baby, his rant was translated into cries, which were heard by an inhabitant of one of the houseboats tied up at the harbour. A woman with short brown hair ran out from a particularly large boat and searched for the source of the noise. Eventually she found the baby Naruto wrapped up in his orange rag and picked him up, looking around to see if anyone was near. When she was sure the harbour was empty, she ran back inside the boat, carrying Naruto with her. She slammed the door behind her, holding Naruto close to her chest as another door opened, revealing a man with long black hair, a pair of brown trousers and a strange tattoo on his chest. He looked at the woman and the child in confusion.

"What's goin' on? What's with the kid?" He asked as he scratched the back of his head. The woman sighed, and began her explanation.

"I found him outside, just laying there in a bundle of cloth. It wouldn't be right to leave him out there, right Jecht?" She asked, with the man groaning in exasperation in the background.

"Wouldn't it be better to take him to an orphanage or something? I mean, his mother could be lookin' for him, y'know?"

"I don't think she is...I just have a feeling."

"You've been depressed ever since the miscarriage, and havin' this kid around will only make things harder. You know that."

"But with the money you earn from blitzball, and the time I have on my hands, this could work!" The woman almost yelled. Jecht groaned again and his shoulders dropped in defeat.

"Fine, we'll keep the kid. But for the record, I was against this. You hear that, Mylene? If this kid proves too much to handle, I have full 'I told you so' rights."

"Fine, fine. Now hurry, he's probably freezing!" Mylene said, rushing around the room. Unknown to her, Jecht let a small grin slip onto his face, happy his wife had finally got what she wished for.

* * *

**Seventeen Years Later... (I know, huuuuuge time skip)**

A crowd of people stood at Zanarkand Harbour, holding t-shirts, pieces of paper and strange blue and white balls. They were chatting amongst themselves until suddenly a door opened on one of the boats and the whole crowd began screaming and cheering. Out of the boat stepped a blonde boy of about seventeen, wearing a fishnet shirt with short black sleeves, a pair of black ninja pants and a pair of dark blue zori (ninja sandals). Bandages were wrapped around his hands, shins and abdomen, with a shuriken holster fastened on his right leg. A strange spiral was tied to his left bicep, while an orange hitai-ate hung around his neck. A set of three whisker-like marks adorned each cheek, while a metal earring hung from his left earlobe and a strange metal necklace was hanging just below the hitai-ate.

The boy walked out into the crowd, its members trampling each other to get to him, while the ones at the back were struggling to see over them. Many girls asked him to go out with them, even one or two proposing to him. Small children held up blitzballs with hopeful looks on their faces. Naruto simply grinned and signed their blitzballs, passing the ball back to the child while they proceeded to squeal in joy. Naruto would simply grin again, causing many of the girls to swoon while others tried to jump him. The three children from before ran up to him and shouted in unison.

"Teach us how to blitz!"

"Hey, I got a game to play!" Naruto replied, not wanting another version of the Konohamaru Corps.

"Then teach us after!"

"Maybe tonight...um...well..." Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. A boy in a purple cape-like garment chose this time to speak up.

"You can't tonight." The boy said, making Naruto turn to him. The blonde ex-shinobi raised an eyebrow, positive that he hadn't been there before. He turned back to the children.

"I mean...tomorrow."

"Promise?" One of the kids asked, clutching his blitzball tighter.

"Promise!" Naruto said loudly with a grin and a thumbs up, making the girls swoon again. The three kids then put their blitzballs down and waved their hands around in an elaborate hand gesture, ending with their hands placed in front of their chest as if they were holding a ball, with one on top and one below. The crowd dispersed, leaving Naruto to run along the large metal walkways that made up Zanarkand's transport system. He stopped on one, and looked up at the building beside him to see a large picture of Jecht. Naruto simply made the patented Sasuke-hn-noise and continued running along the path, dodging people of all ages, shapes and sizes.

"_I was in a coffee shop running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone. Vanished into thin air! My dad must have been his biggest fan. I knew how sad he'd be. Heck, we all were that day. 'Zanar,' I says to myself, 'What are you thinking?' I went running straight back home. We sat up talking 'bout Jecht all night. Me and my dad never talked so much. Whoa...Didn't mean to reminisce, folks._

"_Anyway...Ten years later the Jecht Memorial Cup tournament is today! The two teams that have won through to the finals are...of course, the Abes from A-East, and the Duggles from C-South. I know there's a lot of people out there today to see the star of the Abes! In just one year, he's become the team's number one player! He's Jecht's blood, and the new hope of blitzball! What kind of super play will he show us today? Will we see his father's legendary shot? I don't think I'm the only one excited here, folks!" _A commentator said through a PA system that seemed to span the entire city. Eventually Naruto reached the stadium, hordes of fangirls swarming him as he tried to reach the gate.

'So, is this what Sasuke felt like?' He thought, Kyuubi quietly giggling at his predicament. 'This is ridiculous! How am I supposed to get through here?' Suddenly, he had an idea. Naruto placed his hands in a cross seal and channelled a portion of his chakra, forming a kage bunshin near the stadium gate. He then proceeded to perform the Kawarimi no Jutsu, swapping places with the clone. He ran through the gate, while the clone was instantly swarmed and so it dispelled itself.

* * *

**After the game... (Yes, I'm skipping it. You all know what happens, basically just picture that but give him whiskers.)**

"What the hell? What was that thing? Kyuubi!" Naruto shouted despite being in the middle of the street. It didn't matter, though, as he was the last thing people were paying attention to.

"**I have no idea...I'm as scared as you are, Naruto!" **Kyuubi shouted in a panic, curling into a ball from fear of the strange aquatic creature now destroying the city of Zanarkand. Naruto mentally berated himself for panicking Kyuubi, and made a note to make sure she was alright when he was safe.

"We called it...Sin." A deep, calm voice from somewhere to Naruto's right. He turned to find a man with black, grey-flecked hair wearing a red coat that covered his entire form.

"Auron?" Naruto asked, remembering the man from his childhood, after Jecht died. "What are you doing here?"

"Fulfilling a promise to an old friend. Come." Auron said cryptically before leaving, walking away down one of the semi-destroyed walkways. Naruto hesitated, but then followed the crimson clad man. Halfway down the platform Auron stopped, Naruto having to move out of the way lest he crash into Auron's back. Naruto looked around, wondering why they had stopped. Then he realised. What he had thought were simply pieces of debris were actually the beast's scales, and they were coming to life, turning into strange insect-like winged monsters. Naruto reached into his holster and pulled out a kunai, throwing it at the nearest monster. The monster simply folded its wings over its insectoid body and deflected the kunai. Naruto growled slightly, letting out his fox ears, tail and claws as he prepared for a melee brawl.

He was stopped however, as Auron slipped off one shoulder of his coat and pulled from out of it a sheathed wakizashi. Its sheath was decorated with a pattern reminiscent of swirling water, while its handle was wrapped in cloth adorned with the same design, but with a dolphin added. Auron threw the sword into the air, and Naruto caught it by the sheath with his left hand, his right drawing the blade instantly as if he himself was made of water. A crescent shaped blade of wind formed at the tip of the blade as Naruto swung it, flying incredibly fast towards the Sinscales and promptly cleaving them in two. Naruto sheathed his new sword and smirked, turning back to Auron who had a raised eyebrow.

"It seems you are quite the natural at Iaijutsu (Samurai Art of Sword-Drawing). That blade was a gift...from your father." Auron said, looking at the wakizashi.

"My old man...?" Naruto said, looking down at the sword in his hand. He noticed something engraved into the guard and chuckled. "Aoshiira...guess he wasn't all bad."

"Enough dawdling. Move!" Auron shouted back to him. Naruto looked up to find that he had been surrounded by Sinscales. He ran through them, cutting down only those that were in his path in order to catch up with Auron. Catching up, he saw over the horizon of the upwards-sloping path. An enormous squid-like creature was sticking out of the path, its black tentacles swaying wildly in the air. Naruto sprinted towards it and tried cutting it with Aoshiira, but its body was covered with a thick armour similar to that of the Sinscales.

"Hey, Auron! D'ya mind telling me what this thing is?" Naruto shouted to the older man, who hefted his large sword onto his shoulder ready to strike.

"All I know is that it's a Sinspawn. I can't tell you anything else because it's immune to Scanning, along with several other things."

"So how do we beat it?"

"I'd say a particularly strong hit to the armour might be able to break it, then we just strike it until it dies. Let me take care of the armour, you finish it off. You're faster." Auron said before his sword began to glow. He ran towards it, slightly weighed down thanks to his sword, and swung. "Armour Break!"

A sickening crack was heard as the blade made contact with the Sinspawn's armoured skin, piercing its exoskeleton and opening up the soft flesh beneath. Auron stepped back as Naruto ran forward, jamming his sword into the crack in the creature's armour before stepping back himself. He then ran through a few hand seals and held his hands out in front of him, his fingers outstretched. Bolts of white lightning flew from his fingertips and connected with his sword, which, being made of metal, conducted said lightning and sent it into the Sinspawn's body and causing even more damage. The monster screeched in pain, and its tentacles began to whip through the air even more violently as it began its attack.

"What the hell?" Naruto shouted as he was surrounded by a ball of black energy, sapping his strength until finally it dissipated, leaving Naruto at only ¾ of his original power level.

"That was Demi, a Black Magic skill fiends such as this use. It takes away a quarter of your life force. However, because of this, it's impossible for this attack to kill you. So most fiends use another skill or come with backup." Auron told him, before placing his blade behind his neck and raising an arm. "Some can't wait to die!" Auron ran forward a few steps before jumping into the air and thrusting his Katana into the ground. A circle of light appeared at the point of impact, and the ground where the Sinscales and Sinspawn stood immediately exploded, killing them instantly.

"Whoa, what was that?" Naruto asked, amazed by Auron's power.

"That was my Overdrive, Dragon Fang."

"What's an Overdrive?"

"An Overdrive is an ability you can use during times of severe distress, when your emotions are running wild. Your emotions can affect the power lying dormant within you, and unlock the Overdrive."

"I see. Do I have one?"

"I guess we'll find out!" Auron shouted as he pointed ahead of them. A swarm of Sinscales surrounded them, blocking all chance of escape. Naruto looked around frantically for some kind of escape route, when his eyes spied a half-destroyed tanker lying on the side of the road. He sheathed Aoshiira and ran through more hand seals, the same ones he had used against Sinspawn Ammes. Stretching out his arms, he called out the name of his attack.

"**Raiton: Byakurai no Jutsu!" **Bolts of white lighting shot from his fingers once more, making contact with the tanker and making small electric currents dance over its surface. He poured more chakra into the jutsu, increasing the size and power of the lightning. The jutsu overloaded the tanker and it exploded, even more spectacularly than the Dragon Fang. The Pathway began to collapse, the Sinscales falling off into the water while Naruto and Auron jumped onto a falling building. They ran to the other side before it too fell into the water, and jumped onto a piece of debris that was being pulled into Sin's body. Naruto however slipped, and grabbed onto the edge of the platform instead.

Auron looked away from Naruto, to the fleshy walls that made up Sin. "You are sure?" He said to no-one in particular. He looked back to Naruto and grabbed hold of him, lifting him up by his collar. "This is it. This is your story." Naruto struggled against his grip as he watched Zanarkand being torn apart. He then looked back to Auron to see him being pulled into Sin while saying, "It all begins here." Naruto squinted due to the intense light, and screamed as he was pulled into Sin. It felt as if every part of his body was being torn apart and then refitted in a new place. He wouldn't have been surprised if he woke up with an arm coming out of his head or a leg sticking out of his stomach. Abruptly, everything turned white, and he saw no more.

* * *

_Hey! Hey!_

Naruto awoke underwater, above the ruins of Zanarkand, with Jecht's tattoo floating before made seemingly out of burning debris. He noticed something at the top of the blitzball stadium and decided to swim down to it. As he neared it, he realised that it was Jecht himself. His adoptive father, come back to haunt him, it seemed. As he landed on the platform, Jecht vanished, replaced by a younger version of himself.

_I thought about a lot of things...like where I was, and what I'd got myself into. I started to feel light-headed...and then, sleepy. I think I had a dream. A dream of being alone. I wanted someone, anyone, beside me...so I wouldn't have to feel so alone anymore. I guess it wasn't that much different from being back in the village. I was always alone, then. That's why I started playing pranks..._

* * *

Naruto awoke again, this time for real, on a small rock in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by the ruins of some kind of temple. A lone seagull landed next to him, but even that flew away after a while. He stood up and looked around the region with a confused expression.

"I have a feeling we ain't in Kansas no more..."

**And there you have it! The first chapter of my new story, proposed to me by Challenger! Right now I'd like to clear up a few things that people are going to get confused about. Hell even I was confused about them at first. **

**The reason Naruto treats Jecht and Mylene (not her real name, she was never named) like his parents (i.e. like Tidus does), is simply because he grew up without them for 16 years. Don't you think if he found something even remotely close to a family he'd hang onto it for dear life? In his mind, Jecht and Mylene are his parents and that's that.**

**Aoshiira, by the way, means blue dolphin. Hence the dolphin image on the hilt.**

**The miscarriage the Jecht talks about is, of course, Tidus. He doesn't exist in this story, Naruto is taking his place.**

**The Raiton: Byakurai no Jutsu is based on the Kidou of the same name from Bleach, as will a lot of Naruto's new jutsu, as he learned a lot from Kyuubi over the seventeen years he's been in Zanarkand. I mean, he had to relearn all his taijutsu because his body was remade and therefore he lost all muscle memory. He also had to relearn chakra control and Rasengan because his chakra is new and mixed with youki.**

**Now that that's over with, please, remember to review!**


	2. Chapter 2: In The Ruins Of Baaj

**Chapter 2, In the Ruins of Baaj**

"I guess standing around here won't tell me where I am, so let's get going!" Naruto said, as he made a ram seal and a blue glow formed around his feet. He stepped out onto the water and began running out into the ruins. After getting lost among the rock several times, he eventually found his way to a platform with four pillars on it. On one of the pillars was a blue circular tile with something written on it.

"Hmmm...eh dra myht frana pumdc uv mekrd emmisehyda dra pmylgacd hekrd fedr Macalania pareht dra vuindr bemmyn our cekrd muug hud uh dra mavd pid uh dra nekrd. (_In the land where bolts of light illuminate the blackest night with Macalania behind the fourth pillar you sight look not on the left but on the right._)" Naruto muttered, looking at the small tile. "That makes no sense whatsoever...Hey, Kyuubi. Do you know what it means?"

"**Unfortunately, no," **She said, having calmed down now that Sin was gone. **"It seems to be some kind of other language...we'll come back to it later. For now, we need to find some kind of civilisation."**

"I hear ya. I can't wait to get a fire, a steaming bowl of ramen and a nice warm bed." He said, walking back out onto the water to find another path. After a while he found a path that led up onto a bridge over the water to a partially-destroyed building. The blonde former-shinobi got about halfway before he felt a rumble coming from below. "I have a bad feeling about this..."

"**Don't say that. Bad things always happen when people say that." **No more words could be said after that, as the bridge collapsed from under Naruto and sent him falling into the water, where three fish-like creatures were waiting for him.

'What are these things?' Naruto asked mentally, pulling his sword from its sheath as he kicked his legs to stay at the same level.

"**Sahagins, a weak monster, shouldn't be too much trouble. One, maybe two swings of your sword'll take 'em out." **Kyuubi replied, to which Naruto nodded and swam forward, rearing back his sword arm to take a swing at the nearest sahagin. The creature was not the brightest, though. Seeing the reflection of the moon above on Aoshiira's blade set it swimming quickly at Naruto, intent on getting a hold of the shiny object. Its mouth closed over the blade just as Naruto swung it at the monster, cutting it in half. The two halves of the sahagin dissolved into glowing orbs which flew off into the sky before disappearing completely. Naruto paid this no mind and focused on the other two sahagins.

'Okay, one down, two to go. Time to slice and dice.' Naruto thought as he swam towards the next one. This one was slightly smarter, and tried to bite Naruto himself. He blocked it with his blade, and the creature span around to hit him with its tail. Naruto saw this coming, and removed his sword from the fiend's mouth just in time to separate the tail from the rest of the sahagin. It screeched in pain before being silenced forever as Naruto drove the curved blade through its throat. The glowing orbs appeared around the sword as the monster disappeared, and Naruto prepared to fight for the last time. He didn't get a chance, however, as an even bigger monster appeared and ripped through the final sahagin, blood pouring from its corpse.

'Oh, you gotta be kidding me! There's no way I can beat that thing, not underwater at least!' Naruto yelled in his mind as the enormous creature turned to face him. Naruto took this time to find a weak spot. The beast was huge, with a beak-like mouth and a torso that looked very similar to a cage. It had fins on its head, one on each side, and seemingly no eyes. The entire thing was covered in thick scales which looked strong, almost impenetrable.

"**This thing is called Geosgaeno. I recommend getting out of there now, you're not strong enough to beat it yet."**

'I get that, but where to run to...jackpot.' Naruto thought as he spied an archway that led to an underwater tunnel. Looking back to Geosgaeno, he pulled a kunai from the holster on his leg and gripped it tight, searching for a weak point. After a few seconds searching, he found what seemed to be an eye, and launched the kunai. As soon as the bladed weapon had left his grasp, he turned and swam as fast as he could for the tunnel. The kunai impacted the beast's eye and drove itself inside, causing even more pain. Geosgaeno screeched in pain before letting out a roar so powerful it pushed Naruto further toward his destination. The scaled monster followed him, crashing into the archway as it was too large to follow. The stonework collapsed, leaving no way back. Not that he would want to, of course.

'Well, only way to go is up, I guess.' Naruto thought, swimming up for some air. Luckily, being a blitzballer, he could hold his breath for insane lengths of time. He found a makeshift set of stairs formed by fallen debris leading up to a large circular hall with water cascading down on one side of it. In the centre were the remains of a fire, and the blonde walked up to it, sitting down cross-legged on the cold stone floor. Realising how cold he was, he ran through a few quick hand seals before muttering a quiet "Katon: Hinotama no Jutsu". Fire erupted on the wood, warming him instantly. With that done, he laid back on the floor, looking up at the ceiling.

"**So, where do you think we are?" **Kyuubi asked, using the cam and silence to strike up a conversation with her vessel.

"I'm not sure, but wherever it is it's obviously miles away from anywhere."

"**How long are you gonna stay here, then? If it's miles away, like you said, you should get going soon if you want to get anywhere before you starve to death."**

"I'll head out soon, after I've warmed up a bit more."

"**You know that this fire will bring more monsters, right?"**

"Of course...wait, what?" Naruto asked, but froze as he heard a series of loud clicks behind him, as if some kind of insect was tapping its jaws together. He turned around, simultaneously standing up and drawing Aoshiira. The creature was a light brown, with a large spine protruding from its scaled back, and four claws for legs. A long tail swayed in the air while a flame-like crest stood upon its head. Its mouth clicked as it bounced from side to side on its pointed feet.

"Dammit, can't these things ever leave me alone?" Naruto said as the creature jumped at him, its mouth open wide, ready to sink its teeth into the former shinobi. Naruto stopped it in its tracks by hitting it with the butt of Aoshiira's hilt, disorienting it. Naruto took this opportunity to swing the blade at the creature's side, leaving a deep gash. The thing's clicks became faster and more erratic after that, and its movements became more frenzied. It swung at him with its claws and attempted to bite him, but all of its attacks were blocked or dodged.

"**By the way, kit, this thing is called Klikk. Not too much to worry about, but what you ought to think about are the presences I feel on the other side of the door over there." **Kyuubi advised, just before a loud explosion rocked the ruined building. Smoke filled the chamber as the doors were blown to the other side of it. The smoke cleared to reveal several people wearing goggles and baggy, usually yellow clothing. One stood out from the rest, however, as she was the only female among the group. She wore a tight leather bodysuit that looked out of place everywhere but underwater. She too was wearing goggles, and wore a large spiked glove on her right arm while several round metal objects hung on her belt.

"Gemm dra veaht xielgmo, drah lybdina dra puo. Fa crymm drah pnehk res pylg du dra creb. (_Kill the fiend quickly, then capture the boy. We shall then bring him back to the ship._)" The girl said, gesturing to Klikk and then to him. Naruto looked confused as he couldn't understand a word of it, before realising it was the same language he had found on that pillar. That didn't help him understand it any, though.

"Ec ed cyva du dyga res fedr ic? Ra syo pa y veaht vun ymm fa ghuf. Pacetac, ra'c hud bynd uv uin secceuh. (_Is it safe to take him with us? He could be a fiend for all we know. Besides, he's not part of our mission._) Another of the people said, eyeing Naruto suspiciously.

"Hu suna xiacdeuhc! E cyet fa dyga res fedr ic, cu fa tu ed! Un tu oui fyhd du dyga ed ib fedr so vydran, Cid? (_No more questions! I said we take him with us, so we do it! Or do you want to take it up with my father, Cid?_) The girl said, her gloved hands resting on her hips. Everyone went quiet at that, and the girl gave a small smirk. Klikk drew its attention away from Naruto and charged at the girl, to which she responded by sending her spiked fist into its skull and into the ground, making cracks spread out from the point of impact. Needless to say, Klikk wasn't getting up any time soon. It's head was destroyed, and its injuries made Naruto wonder if this girl was somehow related to Tsunade.

"Rao, frecganc! Yna oui ymnekrd? Oui caasat du pa rumtehk ouin ufh bnaddo kuut pylg drana, frana't oui maynh du vekrd? (_Hey, whiskers! Are you alright? You seemed to be holding your own pretty good back there, where'd you learn to fight?_)" The girl called out to him, but she shook her head at his bewildered expression. "Oui lyh'd ihtancdyht y funt E's cyoehk, lyh oui? Ur famm, kuut drehk E lyh cbayg Yevonite. (_You can't understand a word I'm saying, can you? Oh well, Good thing I can speak Yevonite._)

"Who are you people?" Naruto asked, gripping his sword tighter at the thought of the possibility of their being enemies.

"We're Al Bhed, can't you tell?" The girl said, removing her goggles to reveal bright green eyes with a swirling pupil that Naruto found pretty cool.

"What in Kami's name is an Al Bhed?"

"Uhh...you're not from around here, are you?"

"It's that obvious?"

"Kinda. Anyway, come with me. We'll give you something to eat, if you're hungry." She said, then looked slightly shocked as Naruto didn't seem to be there. She jumped a foot in the air as he spoke from behind her.

* * *

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's roll!" Naruto said cheerfully, having sped right to the girl's side when she mentioned food.

"Do you ever stop eating?" The girl asked as she stared, horrified at the sight of Naruto devouring everything in sight when they returned to the Al Bhed ship. The boy finished a bowl and laid it down, stopping for air.

"I haven't really eaten in a while, so I'm pretty hungry. Sorry if I'm being rude or anything."

"No, no, it's okay. I just wondered. So, why were you out here?" She asked, hoping to get some answers about the strange blonde boy before her who could have taken down Klikk by himself. The only blondes in Spira were Al Bhed, and his eyes were blue.

"Hmm, I don't really know what to tell you. I just woke up there. So I don't know where I am."

"Well, you're in the ocean, just of the ruins of some old temple in Spira."

"Spira? What's that?"

"Well...It's the world!"

"Really, never heard of Spira when I was back in Zanarkand."

"Zanarkand?" She asked, before chuckling lightly. "You're kidding, right? Everyone knows Zanarkand was destroyed by Sin a thousand years ago."

"A thousand years? That's not possible, I was there yesterday!"

"Well, all Zanarkand is today is ruins. You can see for yourself." The girl said as she leant against the steel railing of the boat. Naruto stood up from his position on the deck and walked over to the railing, looking out onto the stormy ocean.

"Ruins...could it really be true? Everything I knew, everyone I knew...gone. All because of that damn Sin. I swear, I'm gonna kill Auron when I find him." Naruto muttered under his breath. The girl placed a hand on his arm in comfort, but was surprised at the muscle she found there, a light blush on her face. She pulled her hand back before asking another question.

"I forgot, I don't even know your name! I'm Rikku, who are you?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, at your service." Naruto said in a bored tone as he stared out at the waves. Rikku opened her mouth to ask another question, but was interrupted by the opening of the door leading to the cabin and the shout of another Al Bhed.

"Rikku! Drana'c cusadrehk uh dra nytyn, cusadrehk pek! Ed'c lusehk drec fyo! kad dra get ehceta, huf! (_Rikku! There's something on the radar, something big! It's coming this way! Get the kid inside, now!_) He shouted, but before they could do so, a wave crashed against the side of the ship, throwing everyone on deck around. A huge grey-scaled fin appeared from the depths and crashed into the ship's steel hull, and threw Naruto straight off the boat and into the water. Once the blonde shinobi fell into the water, the attack seemed to stop. Rikku ran to the side, looking for Naruto.

"Dammit...I thought I'd finally found a friend who wasn't Al Bhed."

* * *

Naruto lay in the waters of his sewer mindscape staring at the stone ceiling, currently deep in a wonderful little thing called denial.

"It's not true, Zanarkand can't be destroyed, I was only there yesterday...What happened to Auron, and the kids, and the girls...what the hell happened?" Naruto yelled into the air. Kyuubi looked at him in pity from the bars of her cage before walking in between them, the ripples formed in the water by her bare feet not affecting Naruto at all. She knelt down beside him, placing a hand on his forehead while giving him a sympathetic smile.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun...but I couldn't sense any lies in what Rikku said. Zanarkand _is_ gone." She said, taking hold of Naruto's hand. She felt his hand clench before he spoke again.

"Why is it always me? Why is it always my home that gets destroyed? First Madara, now Sin...my list of people to annihilate is steadily growing."

"And I'll help you when the time comes, Naruto-kun. You know I'd help you with anything. But for now, you need to calm down, okay?" Kyuubi said in a soft voice, and she felt the grip on her hand lessen. "Now, I suppose we're in Spira now."

"Right now, I don't care where we are."

"And why's that?"

"'Cause right now, I really don't care about anything except you." Naruto said with a small grin, making Kyuubi blush and look away.

"Sheesh, when did you become such a smooth talker, huh? You were never this good with Sakura."

"I didn't like Sakura as much as I like you, Kyuubi-chan."

"Then why did you spend so much time out there with her when you could've spent time in here?"

"Not my fault, you never let on you were a girl." Naruto said, making Kyuubi chuckle. She then looked off to the side as a loud thud sounded throughout the tunnels followed by a shout.

"_Hey! You okay?"_

"It's time to wake up, Naruto-kun. Promise me you'll visit later?"

"I promise. See ya later, Kyuubi-chan!" Naruto said, before disappearing into a cloud of youki once more, leaving the realm of unconsciousness. After the blonde was gone, Kyuubi continued to kneel in the water, a smile still on her face as she thought of her vessel. Soon her thoughts began to turn a little darker, however, and a huge blush appeared on her face as she fell backwards into the water, giggling and muttering "Naruto-kun" over and over. This was one very happy bijuu.

**Fin. So far we have one member of the Spira Savers (as I'm calling them, or SS for short) introduced: Rikku. Next we go to Besaid, to meet the next four. I've been thinking about the future of this story a lot recently, I've even made up a special fiend that a lot of you will recognise for use later on. But before I end, I'm gonna go over a few reviews.**

**You will fear my laser face: I realise your reasoning for disliking the Hanyou situation, but honestly, how else do you expect him to survive a full-body Kamui? You saw what it did to Deidara's arm, I assume, so imagine if your entire body did that. He would need an immense amount of youki to heal that, and a human body wouldn't survive the youki, so he would need to...stop being human, if you understand me. Oh and by the way, your username is epic. R.I.P. Leonard Church.**

**SkittleKick: Naruto will be called Naruto, of course, since I stated in the first chapter that Tidus was the miscarriage and is therefore dead. The only reason no-one from FFX said his name yet is because the person he's really met is Auron, and the only person's name Auron ever says out of the SS in FFX is Yuna.**

**nim istar: I hadn't thought about this at all, and you raise a very good question. I suppose Naruto's old world would have to be a dream in order for him to go to Zanarkand. Although when you think about it, the Narutoverse could easily be a dream. Where outside of a dream could things like that happen?**

**Garrett42000: Simply because he was turned into a hanyou using kitsune youki, so that would turn him into a kitsune hanyou.**

**Remember to review please!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Aurochs Take The Stage!

**Chapter 3, The Aurochs Take The Stage!**

"Hey! You okay?" A deep voice yelled out to him as something round and hard collided with the back of his head. Naruto flailed around, trying to right himself, before putting up an arm and waving at the group of people on the beach.

"Hey!" He punched the blitzball into the air and jumped after it, spinning in the air, before giving it a brutal kick, launching it back towards the beach. The ball flew mere inches past the face of the man who had thrown the ball, a large man with tanned skin and bright orange hair, curled upwards into some kind of crest. He wore an outfit that was somewhere between armour and a sport outfit.

"Whoa-ho-ho…" He said, stunned as he began to laugh. Naruto grinned himself, and began to swim towards the beach. Upon his landing, the blonde was pulled to his feet by the other people on the beach, all wearing the same outfit as the first, with only slight modifications. The orange-haired man had a large pauldron attached to his right shoulder, while the others didn't.

"You're no amateur. Who you play for?" The orange-haired man said in a strong accent he couldn't quite place. Something twigged in Naruto's mind that he probably shouldn't reveal anything about him and Zanarkand.

"Uhh… the Al Bhed?" He said, unsure of what he was saying. The man seemed to look hostile for a moment, before his eyes softened and a smile formed back on his face.

"The Psyches, huh? Well, I never saw you on their team b'fore. Must be new talent. But you're a long way from home, ain't ya?" He asked, slightly sceptical.

"Uh, yeah. Our boat got attacked by Sin, and I got thrown off." Naruto told him, before his eyes narrowed.

"Hey, wait a minute. If you're an Al Bhed, how come you speak Yevonite?"

"Uh, a friend of mine taught me." The man seemed to accept that answer and turned to his team.

"Hey, you guys keep practicing, ya? I'm gonna take this guy up to the village." Naruto's stomach growled, and the orange-haired man laughed. "He sounds a little hungry, so I'm gonna get him some grub."

"Yes, Cap'n Wakka!" The other guys said in unison, before returning to their training, which consisted of throwing and kicking balls in no particular direction. The captain, now known to be named Wakka, turned away and ran up a path leading away from the beach and into the jungle that made up a large proportion of the island.

"So, you say you an Al Bhed, ya?" He asked, making conversation with the blonde. Naruto got worried at this point. What if he asked something about the Al Bhed that he didn't know?

"Uh, yeah. That's right."

"So, how do you guys get a drink with all dat sand in dat desert of yours, huh?"

'A desert? Is that where the Al Bhed live?' "Well, we are actually out on the water a lot, y'know, salvaging stuff." Wakka seemed to get a little annoyed at this.

"Yah, I know. Well, we'll get ya some grub back at da village, den we'll see about getting' ya back to Bikanel, ya?" He asked, confusing Naruto even more, though he didn't show it.

"Uh…yeah?"

"Alrighty den!" He said enthusiastically, punching his palm as he stood before a cliff overlooking a large lake overlooked by a tall rock face. "Let's get goin'!"

"Uhh, where?" Naruto asked, but got only a grin in response. Wakka stepped back and patted him on the back, to be honest a little harder than he should, and the blonde ex-shinobi fell forwards, landing in the warm water of the lake. "Hey, what the hell was that for?" He yelled up when he surfaced.

"Hey, you a blitzer, ya? Then you know how to swim! So, swim!" Wakka said with a grin, before diving off the edge of the cliff and into the water beside him. As soon as he was under he began swimming off towards a gap in the rock. "C'mon, blondie! You want grub, then you gotta come n' get it!"

"Dammit… What did I ever do to Madara to make him put me through this?" Naruto cursed under his breath. He followed after Wakka, swimming past large metal ruins that seemed familiar somehow. He eventually caught up to the orange haired blitzer, who was swimming along on his back.

"You're not an Al Bhed, are ya?" He said in a bored tone, slowly kicking his legs as he swam backwards towards a ledge on the opposite side of the lake.

"That obvious, huh?"

"Kinda. You're eyes, they're blue. But all Al Bhed have green eyes, y'know? At first I thought it was just the light, yah? But I looked again, they're green for sure. What I don't get is why ya said ya were Al Bhed in da first place, ya?"

"To be honest, it was the first thing that came into my head. I have a tendency to blurt out things like that."

"I know what'ya mean. So who are you? You're obviously not just some small fry from a tiny village, not with those blitz skills."

"I… can't tell you that. Not because I'm hiding something, but because you wouldn't believe me if I did. Right now it's best to make up some excuse of your own and go with it. It'd save you many headaches."

"Right, right. But sooner or later you gonna tell me, ya?"

"Sure thing."

"So, if you ain't playin' for the Psyches, I got a question for ya." Wakka said with a grin. Naruto smiled as well, predicting what Wakka would say.

"You want me on your team, right?"

"Ya. You got skills, and to be honest that's just what we don't. For the entire time I've been playing for the Aurochs, we haven't won a game."

"You sure it's not just you that's messing up?" Naruto said with a cocky smirk, grabbing a hold of the rocky ledge that led back up to the path on the other side of the lake. As soon as he found his footing, a foot found its way in his path and Naruto tripped, landing face down in the dirt. Wakka stepped in front of him, his arms folded as he looked down at him with his own smirk.

"You pretty cocky, huh? Well, you better watch dat attitude, brudda, or I'm gonna have to kick your ass." Wakka spoke, punching his palm while he placed a foot on Naruto's back. The blonde pushed his foot away and jumped up, glaring at the orange-haired man, making him laugh. "Okay, let's get going, ya? I bet you're hungry."

"Hell yeah! FOOD!" Naruto yelled, running off into the jungle. Wakka sighed and shook his head.

"If only he'd waited long enough for me to tell him that the village was that way." He said, pointing in the opposite direction from the way Naruto had run.

* * *

"Ya could'a told me I was going the wrong way." Naruto grumbled, glaring at the back of Wakka's head as they finally entered Besaid Village.

"Yeah, yeah. Just stop being so grumpy, you're making it rain." True to his words, there was a small rain cloud forming above Naruto's head, raining down on him alone. "Welcome to Besaid, brudda!" Wakka exclaimed, throwing his arms out to the sides to make the small, run-down village seem more impressive.

"Uh... it's nice?" Naruto said nervously, not wanting to insult his home.

"Yeah, it's not much, but it's home. We've had some trouble with Sin in the past, but not much. He leaves us alone most of the time." He looked over towards a large white building that looked like some kind of stingray or something, before an expression appeared on his face as if he had remembered something. "Hey, you know the prayer, right?"

"The... prayer?"

'_To be perfectly honest, I'd never heard of any prayer. He looked kinda confused when I told him that, though. As if I was a real dumbass for not knowing it. And I did feel stupid, once he showed me what it was.'_

"Man, that's the basics of the basics. You musta hit ya head pretty hard. Don't worry, I'll show ya the prayer." Wakka moved his right foot back, and pushed his arms out to the side, looking slightly like a bird. He then brought his foot forward again and pulled his arms inward in a strange spiralling movement before keeping them a few inches apart, as if holding a ball. The orange-haired blitz captain bowed over the hand gesture for a moment, before rising back to his full height and letting his arms fall back to his sides.

'_I mean _really _stupid. Any blitzer worth his bracer could tell that was the blitzball sign for victory.'_

"Well, I bet your hungry, eh? Well come on! Let's get you some grub!" Wakka said, leading Naruto to a small hut on the side. Once inside, he sat down on the floor in front of a small fire and began throwing ingredients randomly into a pot, an act which made Naruto slightly nervous. "Hey, this may sound weird, but you should go to the temple." He said, suddenly serious.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, confused. "What for?"

"It's kinda a custom for travellers here to pray for a safe journey away, since most people who come here are either summoners or people who washed up on the beach. Not many people come for the views, ya know? Besides, this'll take a while to cook, so might as well do something, right?"

"I understand. I'll head out then." Naruto said quietly, with a nod. He left the tent, heading for the large white building he saw before, which he guessed was the temple. Upon stepping inside, he was amazed.

Numerous candles were placed around the main area in a large circle, with small statues placed in front of them, which a few people were praying to. Four enormous statues were at the opposite side of the large hall, each spectacular in their own right. Two of these statues were placed on either side of a set of stairs leading up to a pair of double doors, while an alcove leading to another room were on the other side of the pairs.

"10 years have passed since the beginning of High Summoner Braska's Calm, and only now we get a statue for our temple. It's hard to believe that an island like ours, with a Temple of the Fayth, gets overlooked as much as it does." Spoke an old man, who had managed to sneak up on Naruto as he gazed in awe at the temple's interior.

"Uh, I guess people have been pretty busy, I mean, what with Sin running around causin' chaos everywhere. Everyone has to do their part to stop it, so I guess no one's really had enough time or resources to make your statue until now." Naruto replied. At Naruto's words, the old man smiled brightly.

"A good way to think, young man. I suppose you've come to pray for a safe journey?" He asked, to which Naruto nodded. "Well then, may Yevon bless your path." He said, making the same gestures Wakka showed him, before walking away. Naruto turned back to the statues and made the same movements, offerings his prayers to 'Yevon', or whatever it was. After that, he returned to Wakka's hut, where he was still cooking, though judging by the smell, it was almost done.

"Hey, brudda, you're just in time! Dinner's finished!" He said cheerfully, pouring some of the eerily familiar food into a bowl and handing it to the blonde. "This is my own recipe, but I don't have a name for it. Maybe I'll get some inspiration for it someday and name it, but for now it's unnamed."

Naruto took a look into his bowl and a glimmer of hope entered his eyes. He grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the table and swilled around the contents of his bowl for a few moments, and the glimmer grew. He grabbed at the contents and pulled it into his mouth with the chopsticks, chewing vigorously, before his the glimmer grew to its maximum and his entire eye was practically glowing.

"RAMEN!" He yelled, ecstatic to find some relation between this world and Konoha. He consumed the contents of the bowl within moments, soup spilling all around him as he scraped at the bowl with his chopsticks. Wakka stared at this spectacle with slight horror, watching as the product of his prized recipe was decimated in the hands of the blonde he had found washed up on Besaid's shores.

* * *

Naruto had long since fallen asleep after finishing his meal, when the priest walked in to Wakka's tent with a solemn look on his wizened features. Wakka looked up from the book on blitzball tactics he had been reading and gave a questioning stare.

"The summoner still hasn't returned from the Cloister." He said, and Wakka sighed.

"We can't interfere. It's a rule." He replied, and the priest's expression became one of pleading.

"But, it's been nearly..."

"_It's been nearly..." _Said a voice inside Naruto's dreams, a memory triggered by his mind subconsciously hearing the two older men's conversation.

"_It's been nearly a day already." Spoke a man, standing on the bridge that connected the houseboat to the harbour. The woman he was speaking to looked him, her eyes pleading._

"_Perhaps you could go look for us." She said, her long brown hair messy and her clothes dishevelled. _

"_People are searching for him now." The man said, before turning and walking away._

"_Thank you..." The brunette said, though the man had already left. She clasped her hands, as if in prayer, and looked up at the sky just as rain began to fall. She turned to see a small boy with spiky blonde hair standing behind her, his clothes and hair slowly being soaked in the rain as he stared at the ground so hard it could've caught fire._

"_Who cares if he comes back or not?" He asked, his fists clenched so hard that blood began to seep out of small wounds caused by his fingernails. _

"_But he might die!" The woman said loudly, and the rain began to fall harder._

"_Fine, let him!" The boy yelled, raising his head to reveal tear-filled blue eyes, their usual vibrancy dulled by sadness. The woman gasped, before looking at the boy in pity._

"_Do you... Do you hate him so?" She asked. The boy simply turned his back and began to walk away towards the door down into the cabin. "If he dies, you'll never be able to tell him how much you hate him." _

_The boy stopped. _

"_If he dies, I won't have to. I'll be safe in the knowledge that he's rotting in hell." He said, before leaving the woman to fall to her knees and begin crying heavily into the steel floor of the ship._

* * *

"AH!" Naruto yelled as he sat up in his bed, accidentally ripping the blanket that had been covering him in two. He looked down to see the nails of his hands had grown into claws. He raised a hand, and could feel that the whisker-like birthmarks had darkened, and he knew that his eyes would've become red and slit as well. He looked around the hut to find that Wakka had disappeared.

He jumped up from the bed and ran out of the hut, using the enhanced speed that the Kyuubi's power granted him to his advantage as he sped towards the temple, the only place he could think of.

When he reached the large white building, he found Wakka and the old man from earlier speaking in hushed tones near the bottom of the stairs. "Hey, is something wrong?" He called out. Wakka looked over at him, while the old man walked away, leaving the two to talk.

"The summoner hasn't returned from the trial." He answered cryptically, but Naruto didn't let his confusion show.

"Right..."

"Well, apprentice summoner, really." Naruto noticed that Wakka was speaking in much shorter sentences than usual. "There's a room in there called the Cloister of Trials. Beyond is where the summoner prays. If the prayer is heard, the apprentice becomes a full-fledged summoner."

"So, basically, someone has been in there too long without coming out. Got it. Why don't you just go in there?" Naruto asked.

"We can't, it's a rule. Only summoners and their guardians can enter the Cloister."

"Is it dangerous in there?"

"Sometimes, yes."

"Then screw the rules. Cover me, I'm going in!" He yelled, running up the stairs towards the door at the top, much to the shock of the people gathered around.

"No one can enter!" The old man yelled. Naruto stopped and turned, the crimson glow of the Kyuubi's chakra in his eyes returning as his nails and canines lengthened and his whiskers deepened. Several people gasped in shock and fright at his more feral appearance.

"But what if something happens? What if the summoner dies?" He barked, unnerving the old man, who could not believe that this was the same boy he met earlier in the day.

"The precepts must be obeyed!"

"Like I give a shit!" He yelled, almost blasting the double doors of their hinges with his enhanced strength.

If only he knew what he was getting himself into.

**Phew! I'm glad I finally got this chapter done. Sorry it took this long, I got pretty caught with school work. Never, I repeat never, underestimate the evil that is GCSE Triple Science combined with Spanish, Graphics and Art. Hopefully I'll be catching up with my stories a lot around now, but nothing's certain as I've had an influx of ideas for new stories. Unfortunately, I get these ideas with just about every anime I watch and every game I play. Either way, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you'll keep waiting for the next one! Until next time, goodnight!**


	4. Chapter 4: White Whales and Fayth

**Chapter 4, White Whales and Fayth**

The Cloister of Trials didn't stand a chance.

Naruto hadn't bothered solving the puzzle of the Cloister, like every other entrant to the winding passages within the Besaid Temple. His determination, combined with the sheer destructive power of Kyuubi's chakra, had allowed him to bypass the annoyance that plagued every summoner that tackled the temple's secrets on their pilgrimage.

In other words, he just knocked through the walls.

Everyone gathered in the temple's main hall could hear the crashes and explosions as the blonde literally tore through the maze, and were torn between awe and fear. Wakka simply stood at the front of the crowd, his mouth open wide in shock as his mind tried to compute what was happening. Not only had the boy disobeyed the temple precepts, but he had begun destroying the temple from the inside out. And then there was the matter of the strange energy he seemed to exude just before he entered. When Wakka had looked into his eyes, the bloody crimson iris and slit pupil glaring back at him, he had seen his own death.

Naruto, meanwhile, was having the time of his life. The way he felt now, walls and ceiling falling around him as he charged towards his destination, was pure bliss. It felt just like he was back in Konoha, destroying everything in his path to save the day yet again. His joyous experience, however, came to an abrupt end when a large blue blur crashed into him, knocking him back through a few walls. His back scraped across the ground, pieces of debris tearing through the thin fabric of his shirt until he came to a stop.

"Who goes there?" Asked a mature female's voice from the last he had entered before he was stopped. He jumped up to see a woman with long black hair pulled back into several beaded braids, dressed in a long black dress with fur around the top and a multitude of belts wrapped around the lower half, standing in the hole he had created.

"Where's the summoner?" He growled, crouching in order to give himself better opportunities to either attack or dodge, should the need arise. A large feline-humanoid creature, which Naruto noticed to be the true form of the blue blur, stepped out the shadows, its burly arms crossed over its chest. A long weapon similar to a halberd was strapped to his back by a series of leather bands and metal rings.

"The summoner? Who are you?" The woman asked, her eyes narrowing. Her larger companion, however, didn't wait for answers, and charged, bringing his spear up to impale the blonde. The blade pierced his flesh, but no blood spilled forth, as 'Naruto' exploded into a cloud of white smoke, obscuring the creature's vision. The real Naruto dropped down and grabbed onto his shoulders, his legs wrapped around the beast's waist to inhibit its movement. He pulled out a kunai and span it around, holding it backwards, before ramming the circular end into the blue cat-person's neck. It slumped to the floor, while Naruto jumped off of it and landed in a crouch, facing the woman.

"You defeated Kimahri." She stated the obvious, her eyes narrowed so far they were almost closed. Naruto smirked, revealing his elongated canines, and he spun the kunai on his index finger.

"What of it?" He asked, standing up from his crouch and walking slowly towards the dark-haired woman. She moved not a muscle, only staring at Naruto heatedly. When he was within a few metres of her position, she raised her right arm, the hand of which was adorned with a purple flame mark on the back.

"**Fira." **She spoke emotionlessly, before a torrent of flame erupted from her palm and shot towards Naruto. He jumped out of the way, but the leg of his trousers was singe by the intense heat of the woman's attack. He rolled to a halt by a rock and drew his blade, holding it horizontally in front of him, a hand placed flat against the dull edge.

"**Katon: Shinku no chi-ha **(Fire Release: Crimson Blood Wave)**!"** He yelled, and swiped the sword through the air, a crescent of red following its arc. When the crescent was complete, he pulled his sword back and made to perform an upwards strike, hitting the back of the semicircle on its way up. The force of the blow pushed the crescent through the air towards the woman, who raised her hand again. Her hand this time had the form of a shield emblazoned upon it, and with a flash of light, a barrier made of hexagonal pieces appeared before her to block his attack.

"**Barrier!" **She yelled as the shield finished forming just before the blood wave crashed into it, a crater formed beneath it from the shockwave created by the force of the opposing forces. The woman's eyes widened as she saw her barrier begin to buckle under the push of Naruto's attack, before an explosion rocked the hallway as her shield finally failed.

Naruto jumped out of the smoke and ran towards the end of the hall and the claw-like door that covered the entrance to the chamber where the summoner was. As he ran, he made a cross hand-seal, and another Naruto appeared beside him in a puff of smoke. The real Naruto put his right hand out, and the clone began to move its own around it in small, erratic motions as if it were clawing the air. After a few moments, a sphere of swirling azure energy formed in the palm of his hand, whips of the same blue chakra slicing through the air as it howled in anticipation of its use.

"**RASENGAN!" **Naruto roared as the clone dispelled itself, and the attack collided with the door. The Rasengan ground away at the obviously thick metallic door as it creaked under the strain of the swirling chakra. The door quickly crumbled, conceding defeat to the intruder's power and it was ripped in two, allowing Naruto passage into the Chamber of the Fayth.

"Who's there?" A soft voice asked, obviously female, from within the chamber. He looked around the circular room. A large emblem of something akin to a wyvern was emblazoned on the floor, under a layer of smooth transparent crystal. A girl, around his age, was knelt before the symbol, her hands clasped in prayer. She had shoulder-length brown hair, and wore a white kimono, though the bottom half was purple and was printed with white flowers. The kimono was tied shut with a yellow obi that had a large pink flower attached to it.

"Who are you?" He asked, not lowering his sword. That last one was pretty powerful, and he was not going to underestimate someone twice. But any resolve to strike the girl before him he had gathered vanished when she looked up at him.

A pair of fearful eyes looked up at him, probably the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. Her left eye was a dazzling green, like a precious emerald, while her right was the same deep blue of his own. Despite her obvious fear at the man brandishing a sword in her general direction, she didn't cry or show any expression that might belie her inner feelings. But her eyes couldn't lie.

"I am Yuna, a summoner. Well, I'm only an apprentice at the moment, but when I finish here, I'll be a full-fledged summoner." She replied, staring deep into his eyes. Her gaze was slightly unnerving, and, despite his best efforts to halt it, Naruto felt a blush creep onto his cheeks. He noticed that she hadn't gotten angry or upset that he was here, in fact she hadn't even mentioned it. She patted the ground next to her, and gave him a small smile. He grinned back and took a seat next to her.

"You aren't a Yevonite, are you?" She asked, surprising Naruto. He looked at her, eyes wide in shock, before turning his head and staring into the crystal circle before them.

"That obvious, huh?" He replied. The girl let out a small laugh, which he couldn't help but smile at. Something about her laugh just made him happy. "I guess I stick out like a sore thumb 'round here."

"Not really."

"Hm?"

"Our world of Spira is made up of all different kinds of people, all living in harmony. Well, mostly." She said sadly, continuing her prayers while she spoke.

"Mostly?"

"There are some who don't agree with the way things are being run, and try to stop them by any means possible. I don't believe they're evil or even particularly bad, but..." She trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"You don't know what to believe, either what you've been told, and what your heart tells you." He said profoundly.

"How did you..."

"Know what you were thinking?" He finished for her, surprising Yuna considerably. "I guess I just have a gift. So, what do you actually do here?"

"I must pray to the fayth, which is the symbol in the centre, so that they may bless me with an aeon, a being of great power. Once I have gained all five aeons from the five main temples in Spira, I can face Sin."

"Face Sin? Whoa, you must have some guts, girl. Going up against Sin all on your lonesome is no easy task, I've seen firsthand the destruction it creates." This seemed to shock and interest Yuna at the same time.

"You've seen Sin? And survived? This must be a blessing from Yevon!" She exclaimed happily, before performing the same prayer had seen twice now. "Now, I must complete this, so I may-"

"AHA! There you are!" Yelled a familiar voice from the passage behind them. "You should know betta than ta run off, ya know?"

"Wakka!" Naruto exclaimed, and ran out of the Chamber of the Fayth, only to be caught in a headlock by the orange haired blitz captain himself. "Hey, lemme go!"

"Whatcha think ya doing now, huh? First you go chargin' into da Cloister, then you tear it down and knock out two of the summoner's guardians, and now ya breakin' into the Chamber of the Fayth?"

"I thought the summoner was in danger, and how was I supposed to know who those two were?" Naruto yelled as he finally released himself from the headlock. Wakka simply laughed at him, but when he tried to yell again, a bright light coming from the entrance to the Chamber of Fayth interrupted him, before an ecstatic Yuna ran out of it, jumping up and down on the spot.

"I did it! I finished the prayers, and the fayth talked to me, and they gave me the aeon, and I became a summoner!" She said happily all in one breath and jumped a few more times, before falling over, exhausted, into Wakka's arms. He laughed again, and turned to walk out of the Cloister.

"C'mon, blondie! Time to go!" He called back as he walked away.

"Yeah yeah, I'm coming." Naruto said sarcastically, before putting a foot forward to follow him.

"_**You..." **_A ghostly disembodied voice echoed from around him, stopping him in his tracks. He turned around to find out where the voice was coming from, expecting someone to be standing behind him, but there wasn't. The passage was empty besides him.

"Who's there?"

"_**You are the one we've been waiting for...the one we called for..." **_The voice spoke, beginning to freak Naruto out. _**"Come inside, young one. For you are welcome here, as our champion."**_ The circular crystal in the Chamber of Fayth before him began to glow with a bright white light. He walked into the chamber, as the transparent form of a young woman appeared, hovering over the crystal dome.

"Who are you?" He asked the apparition, who smiled.

"_**We are the fayth that has come to be known as... Valefor, Guardian of the Skies. But that is irrelevant. For since you are now here, we will no longer be needed."**_

"No longer needed? But what about the summoners that need your power?"

"_**They are no longer needed. No-one is necessary, apart from a select few individuals, including you and that girl. The last summoner that we bestowed the power of the Aeon to."**_

"Yuna? But why's she so important?"

"_**She will be pivotal in the way the world's destiny is shaped in the days to come. But that will be spoken of in further detail by our brethren at the other temples. For now, we shall give you what is left of our power to help you further our goal, and so that we may rest." **_The woman said, before a brilliant white light appeared around her, which quickly vanished to reveal her holding what seemed to be a strange capsule made entirely out of gold. She held it out for Naruto to take, which he did. It glowed for a moment, before it settled and rested peacefully in his hands.

"What good is a piece of metal gonna do me?"

"_**Do not fret, champion. This which we give you is not mere metal. Its true purpose shall reveal itself to you in due time. Its power shall be yours, when it has thawed."**_The woman said before vanishing, the glow from the crystal also disappearing. Naruto turned to leave, when he realised something.

"Thawed?" He asked himself, looking down at the cylindrical piece of gold in his hands. "How can it thaw? It's not frozen."

* * *

That night, Naruto sat beside the fire, staring into its depths while the metal cylinder lay on the ground beside him. The rest of the village was celebrating Yuna's becoming a summoner, while he had been left alone. It felt as if the other villagers were wary, even scared of him. He could guess a few reasons why that may be. A teenager channelling demonic energy while breaking the laws of your temple in plain sight is something that not all people see every day. Especially when you consider the fact that he was the only one of his knowledge that could channel demonic energy in this world.

"Why are you sitting here all alone?" A soft voice asked from above him. He looked up to find the smiling features of Yuna looking down at him, her hands placed over each other in front of her. Naruto sighed and looked back into the fire, a scowl on his face.

"Everyone seems to be scared of me after what I did to the Cloister, and the fact that I even went in there in the first place. Man, every place is the same. You show a little bit of power and all of a sudden people avoid you like the plague."

"I don't care." Yuna said quietly. Naruto looked up at her again and grinned.

"Take a seat. You must be tired, if my eyes didn't deceive me back in the Cloister." yuna nodded and sat next to him. As she did so, she noticed the golden capsule lying next to him, which somehow managed to stay clean despite lying in the dirt.

"What's that?" She asked, pointing down at it. Naruto looked where she was pointing and picked up the cylinder, turning it over in his hands.

"No idea. Got in the Chamber of the Fayth. Pretty weird though, huh?" He paused for Yuna to nod. "I'm supposed to wait for it to 'thaw', apparently. Don't ask what that means." He clipped the strange object to his leg with a few leather straps, where his shuriken holster used to be. Somehow, having something strapped there just made him feel more secure.

"Hey, I forgot. I never learned your-" Yuna started, but she never got to finish as one of the town elders tried to pull her away.

"Come, Lady Yuna. That boy is trouble, and is not to be trusted. Besides, we must discuss your travel arrangements for the morning." The woman said, shooting a heated glare at Naruto. Naruto responded with a smirk, revealing one of his elongated canines, while his turned a burning crimson for a split second. Just long enough to scare the elder out of her wits.

"But I..." Yuna muttered, looking back at Naruto. He dropped his smirk and shook his head.

"Go. You have things to do, I'm sure. After that, get some rest. You look beat." Naruto told her, before standing up and stretching. Yuna nodded and walked away with the elder, leaving Naruto to himself. He began to walk in the direction of Wakka's hut, hoping to find the orange-haired man somewhere nearby.

"Hey, blondie! You want sleep, you go to the Crusader's Lodge over yonder. Get some rest, we're leaving in the morning." Wakka told him when he appeared from inside the hut.

"What? Leaving? Why?"

"Well, I gotta go with Yuna, seein' as how I'm her guardian. Just like those two you beat up."

"I said I was sorry!"

"Yeah yeah. And then there's the fact that you said you'd play for our team. The tournament in Luca's comin' up, and you need to be there."

* * *

"He cannot be trusted, Wakka!" Spoke a voice Naruto found familiar as he lay awake in the Crusader's Lodge. Seriously, some people have no respect for others' rest. "You saw what he did in the temple!"

"Yeah, to protect Yuna!" Wakka replied. By now he knew they were talking about him. They were pretty dumb, considering that they were talking about him right outside the lodge, when all there was separating them was a thin piece of cloth serving as a door.

"That's beside the point!"

"Well, Yuna trusts him."

"But you know why she trusts him, I'm sure."

"Not really. I never understood it."

"Ugh, this is not the time to be discussing that! For now, keep a close eye on him, alright?"

"Alright, I got it."

Naruto ignored their argument, and tried to get back to sleep. But as soon as he finally closed his eyes, birds began singing outside and the sun shined through the gaps around the cloth over the doorway. _'You gotta be kiddin' me.'_

"C'mon, blondie! We gotta move, our boat's waitin' for us!" He heard Wakka call from outside. Naruto jumped out of the bed with gusto that was surprising in someone who hadn't gotten a wink of sleep all night. He ran out of the tent with as much energy, but his back met the floor as he was clothes-lined by a muscled arm belonging to the blitz captain himself. "Man, you're slow! You better get serious, or we gonna lose at Luca!"

The trip to the shoreline was fairly uneventful, sans a second scuffle with the blue-furred Ronso, Kimahri, who was feeling shamed by his simple loss to Naruto. Then again, he was fighting the very person who had defeated the seemingly immortal Pein and almost killed the truly immortal Uchiha Madara. Anyone who had rushed so blindly into battle as he would be called a fool and put down immediately. Fortunately for him, Yuna, Lulu and Wakka were there to stop Naruto from killing the Ronso, and no blood was actually spilt. Kimahri was sporting a few new bruises, however.

"It's time." Yuna said, standing on the pier as she stared out onto the ocean. "It's time to leave Besaid and truly begin my pilgrimage."

"You nervous?" Naruto asked, walking up beside her. She turned her head slightly to look at him and smiled, before looking back at the seemingly endless expanse of water before them.

"Not really. It's just... I'll miss this place."

"You'll be able to come back though, right? Once you beat Sin!" ~He said cheerfully, patting the brunette on her back lightly. She looked at him and smiled, though Naruto could tell it was not one of happiness. But that wasn't his greatest concern, as he had just seen the water ripple, and could smell the familiar scent of blood.

_Reptilian_ blood.

"Everyone get back!" Naruto yelled, as a scaled fin rose out of the water and slammed into the pier, sending pieces of broken wood into the air. A long, serpentine tail shot towards Naruto and attempted to strike him like a whip, but a swift sword slash cleaved it in two, and a horrible screech echoed from the depths of the water. The blood-soaked head of Geosgaeno burst forth from the sea, showering everyone with salty seawater, and it swung a fin at the group again, only to have it blocked by Kimahri's lance, though only barely.

"_Use us..." _A ghostly voice spoke in his ear, and the ethereal form of Valefor appeared before him, pointing towards the metal cylinder strapped to his leg. He looked down at it, and was surprised to see a hole appear in the top, revealing the cylinder to be hollow. Something told him he should reach into this hole, and he did, the cylinder fitting around his arm perfectly. A panel slid open on its surface, revealing a glowing blue light.

"It moved." He stated, though he knew not why. He removed the cylinder from his leg and held it aloft, its smooth metallic surface glowing a brilliant gold, before the light consumed it and him both. The others had to close their eyes to shield themselves, and Geosgaeno screeched in pain fromm the bright light. It soon cleared, revealing Naruto, clutching in his hand...

Well, it was hard to describe. It seemed to be a hybrid between a triple-barrelled revolver, a drill and some kind of purple sludgy organism, pulsating as if it were a heart. The drill began spinning wildly, letting out a roar, as if in relief as it had finally been released.

"The Magun... has thawed." He said, in a deeper voice that was not his own. His hair had lengthened during the Magun's release, and darkened, becoming a dark crimson. A blue line had appeared across the bridge of his nose, similar to Iruka's scar, and three red triangles had also appeared under his right eye. A black cloak wrapped itself around his form, swaying in the breeze as he aimed the strange weapon at the hulking reptile, scowling. Geosgaeno let out a roar, and tried to attack Naruto, but it was stopped by a sudden wave of power that pushed it back easily.

"The Soil Charge Triad to use on you has been decided!" Naruto yelled, pointing at his opponent before whipping aside his cloak to reveal a belt filled with glass canisters containing what looked to be coloured sand.

"The one who tears boulders apart with its teeth: Shark Gray!" He spoke, pulling out a canister with grey sand inside, and placing it in one of the three slots in the back of the weapon in his hand.

"The one who envelops all thirst: Water Blue!" A turquoise canister was fitted into the Magun, and the dirt around Naruto began to swirl rapidly as the air around him charged with energy.

"Finally... the one who feeds on emptiness: Crusher White!" A canister of white sand slotted itself into the gun, which closed the slots at the back and began glowing again. The drill spun again, roaring a battle cry into the air while the 'heart' began pump wildly. "Now, cry! Summoned Creature!"

"Bismark!"

**Oh yeah, Geosgaeno is gonna get owned! I never did forgive him for not letting me kill him at the beginning. Well, divine retribution and all that. So, you've seen the altered temple scene, the fire scene, Lulu and Wakka's conversation (which may seem a little confusing, I know) and finally, a brand new battle at the pier! And, Naruto's got his new weapon! Those of you who watched Final Fantasy Unlimited should recognise it and Bismark, for those who don't, you'll just have to wait and see. But, for now, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I bid you goodnight!**


	5. Chapter 5: Number Of The Beast

**Chapter 5, Number Of The Beast**

"Cry, Summoned Creature! BISMARK!" Naruto roared, firing the Magun into the air. A trio of lights shot from the end through a large cloud of smoke, one gray, one blue and one white. They collided in the air just before Geosgaeno's cage-like chest, and beams of pale blue light shot from its chest.

"The hell?" Wakka yelled, as Geosgaeno's body exploded into an enormous pillar of water that rose into the sky, carrying with it a pure white whale with crimson eyes. Bismark swam gracefully through the column, destroying any remains of Geosgaeno before the entire pillar vanished into the sky, not even leaving a single dark cloud to prove that it had ever been there.

"That... was... AWESOME!" The orange-haired blitzer yelled, throwing a fist into the air. He turned to Naruto and patted him on the back. "Yah, blondie! That was pretty powerful, how'd ya do- Blondie? Blondie, you okay?" He asked worriedly, as Naruto collapsed before him, his Magun reverting back to the golden tube which lay by his side. His body changed back to its original form, though the cloak and markings on his face remained.

"Get him onto the boat, we'll fix him on the way." Lulu told him, to which Wakka nodded and stepped back, allowing Kimahri to step forward and begrudgingly carry the blonde onto the boat, which had been miraculously unharmed in the battle. The group climbed aboard, and the boat began to set off, with Yuna waving back to the few people that remained after Geosgaeno's attack.

"So... they managed to defeat Geosgaeno, hmm?" Spoke a man wearing a suit of ornate silver armour, covered in spikes, as he stepped out from behind a rock. He held in his hands a playing card, with Geosgaeno's image emblazoned upon it. The card began to dissolve into white dust which fell to the ground, before disappearing completely. "Their power is greater than I had anticipated, but nothing too impressive. They seem to rely on the outsider, from what I have gathered. He is undoubtedly the strongest of them, wouldn't you say?" He asked no one in particular, but a rumble beneath his feet seemed to answer him, originating from out in the ocean.

"But of course. He is your son, even if not by blood."

* * *

"Are you awake?"

Naruto opened his eyes to the sight of a wooden ceiling, a burning lamp swinging above him. He turned his head slightly to see the owner of the voice, Yuna. She sat in a chair beside his bed, her hands in her lap as she looked at him with concern. He sat up, clutching at his head while searching around the room. He found his sword and Magun propped against a wall in the corner, while his hitai-ate and necklace were laid out on the table beside him.

"Yeah, but my head just felt like it was underneath a Chocobo stampede." He said, earning a light giggle from Yuna. "Where're the others?"

"They're all on the deck. We're about halfway to Kilika already, since you slept so long." She told him, passing him the headband and necklace, which he hung round his neck. He jumped up from the bed and grabbed his weapons, before running out into the hallway, where he was stopped by a man with a large backpack.

"Hold on there, son." He said, in a notably British accent. Whatever a British accent was. "Those are some pretty interesting clothes you have there..." He said, looking him up and down, before turning his nose up in disgust. "Eugh, these are filthy! They'll never sell! Oh well, I guess it's neither here nor there. D'you want to buy something?"

"No thanks, I'm all set." Naruto assured him, and tried to push past, but Yuna followed him out of the room, and the strange man raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Something for your... lady friend?" He said, nudging him slightly with an elbow. Yuna heard this and blushed deeply, before running off past the two and up the stairs to the deck. "Ah, too bad. You'll find one in the end, lad."

"I didn't ask for your advice on romance, old man. And I'm probably better off because of it." He said, finally pushing past the man and following Yuna up the stairs.

"The name's O'aka the XXIII, m'boy! Just remember!" He heard the man shout back, but he shook his head and walked on.

"Ah, sleepin' beauty finally awake, eh?" Wakka asked, seeing Naruto emerge from the cabin. The tanned man was sitting on a crate, looking to the fore of the ship with Lulu and Kimahri. Yuna had been surrounded by people asking her questions and such, a sight that was very familiar. "We're almost to Kilika. Should be there in a couple 'a hours."

"I heard. Any trouble along the way?" Naruto asked, leaning back against the same crate as he watched Yuna speak cheerfully with the crowd.

"Nah, not since that big croc thing. Come on, you think we would be guardians if we couldn't take care of a few fiends?" He asked, puffing out his chest proudly. But within moments, his prideful expression vanished, and he began looking at Naruto in awe. "But seriously, how did you do that? That big whale thing?"

"Would you believe me if I said it was magic?" Naruto answered, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Wakka raised an eyebrow, and Naruto laughed. "Oh, come on. It would be great if it were magic." Wakka simply gave him a weird look, which the black-garbed woman beside him picked up on.

"You'll have to excuse Wakka. He's a bit... lacking in the imagination department." Lulu informed the blonde, who laughed again.

"Thanks Lulu, I'll keep that in mind." Naruto turned to the front of the ship, feeling the breeze for a moment before walking over to where Yuna stood, the crowd having dissipated.

"The wind... it's nice." She spoke after a few moments of silence. Naruto nodded in response, and turned slightly to look at her. She was smiling at him, and he couldn't help but smile back. Their smiles soon descended to pure, inexplicable laughter, which led to the rest of their party looking at them as if they were mad. "You're a blitzball player, right? From Zanarkand?" She finally asked, when she had stopped laughing. Naruto froze.

"Where'd ya hear that?" He asked, turning around slowly. He had convinced everyone that he was Al Bhed. Then again, Yuna seemed to see things that other people didn't. "I never told anyone that."

"Why not?"

"No one would believe me in a thousand years. So I made up the fact that I was Al Bhed."

"I'd believe you." This startled Naruto. He turned and faced her quickly, to see that smile was once again gracing her features. "And before you ask why, let me tell you something." Naruto's eyebrow rose, awaiting her explanation. "A man once told me about Zanarkand. About the stadium, all lit up at night, where great tournaments are held."

"Who?"

"A man named Jecht. He was my father's guardian." Naruto's eyes widened, and he turned back to the sea, a hint of crimson in his eyes. He growled under his breath, and his grip tightened on the rope, which began to singe.

"My father... my father's name is Jecht. But it's not him. It couldn't be him. He died, ten years ago. He went out training one day, and never came back."

"But that's the day Jecht came to Spira!" Yuna spoke, twirling around slightly in joy. "I first met Jecht ten years and three months ago! The date fits, doesn't it?"

"How would he get here?"

"You're here, are you not?" Yuna was smiling again. He cursed that smile, no matter how angry he was, that smile was infectious. But their conversation was interrupted by a deep rumble from beneath the waves, and the feeling of the boat being thrown about on the waves.

"Dammit, what's going on?" Naruto roared, grabbing hold of Yuna's hand. The brunette probably would have blushed, had their lives not been in danger. He pulled her back toward the middle of the boat, where Wakka, Lulu and Kimahri were preparing for battle. "Wakka, do you know what's going on?"

"It's Sin! Get yourself ready!" Wakka yelled back, grabbing his blitzball. Naruto pulled his sword from its sheath and turned back to the bow of the ship, where a large grey fin had risen out of the water, several harpoons protruding from its scaly skin. "The hell do they think they're doin'? If they stick harpoons in it, we'll all be pulled under!"

"Their families are in the same direction we're headed! What would you do, Wakka?" Naruto yelled over the crashing waves pummelling the hull of the ship. Wakka groaned slightly, but readied himself for battle. Kimahri pulled his lance from his back and slipped into a battle stance, while Lulu simply stood still, though lightning danced around her fingers.

"Don't take this one lightly." Lulu spoke calmly, seeing Naruto grin in anticipation of the battle with Sin. Naruto's muscles visibly tensed and his grin vanished, replaced with a look of pure seriousness.

"Noted." Naruto drew his sword, though he knew it wouldn't do much good against the tough scales that were quite visible on the fin's surface. **"Raiton: Byakurai no Jutsu!" **Naruto yelled, as bright white lightning shot from his hands and collided with the fin. But where it might have burst through or at least burnt a normal creature, it simply bounced off and shot into the sky.

"It seems your powers are ineffective against Sin, Uzumaki." Lulu commented, firing a bolt of lightning from her own fingers that slammed into Sin's scales and ran across its skin, causing moderate damage.

"I get it, don't rub it in." Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. He stepped back out of the others' way, as it was obvious he would be practically useless in this battle. He didn't know whether the monster repelled Raiton jutsu or just chakra in general, and summoning Bismark had worn him out far too much for it to be a regular thing.

"Take this, ya damn demon!" Wakka yelled, spinning his ball on a finger before flicking into the air and slamming his foot into it. The spherical 'weapon' rocketed through the air and hit the same point that Lulu's Thunder spell had struck. Under the waves, an unholy screech could be heard as Sin screamed in pain, before the fin began to shake violently. Several of its scales broke free from its hide and landed on the deck of the ship, unfolding into the same insectoid creatures that Naruto had fought in Zanarkand. "Whoa, what are those things?"

"They're Sinscales! Be careful, they shoot spines!" Naruto warned, as Wakka span out of the path of three needles, the purple spikes embedding themselves into the wood of the ship's mast.

"Thanks for the info!" Wakka said sarcastically. "Since you know so much about them, why don't you deal with them? Or does your 'magic' not work on them either?" Naruto scoffed and plunged his blade into the head of one Sinscale, before turning and ploughing into another with a quickly formed Rasengan. He sprinted toward the last, intent on destroying it and proving a point to Wakka, but was beaten to it as the blade of Kimahri's lance cleaved it in two. He glared up at the feline creature, who seemed to be... grinning at him?

"Oh, it's on." Naruto challenged, as more Sinscales rained down from the fin, and Naruto and Kimahri took to the horde of winged creatures. With their respective weapons, the two cut a large perimeter around the two ranged fighters as they pelted Sin with magic and blitzballs, before turning and taking down the stragglers that had backed up to the edges of the boat in a futile attempt to escape the duo. Unknown to Lulu and Wakka, Kimahri and Naruto had secretly been keeping count of how many scales they had dispatched, turning their battle into more of a contest.

"Sixteen!" Naruto yelled over the screeches of dying Sinscales and the small explosions that sounded as Lulu's lightning crashed into Sin. Kimahri growled out a response that sounded suspiciously like 'seventeen', which caused Naruto to speed up, cutting through the monsters in a ruthless and bloodthirsty manner.

"That did it!" Wakka exclaimed, as one final hit sent the fin crashing back into the waves. Water sprayed up onto the deck, showering the fighters heavily just as Kimahri had dispatched the last of the Sinscales. "We did it! Whew!" Wakka fell back onto the deck, exhausted, as the others did the same. Lulu slumped against the mast, holding her Moogle doll against her chest while drinking a bottle of purple liquid. Kimahri stabbed his lance blade-down into the floor and sat cross-legged on the deck as Yuna rushed over and began applying healing magic to the Ronso's wounds. Naruto simply sat down, sheathing his sword on his waist while his regenerative abilities got to work.

"You know that that wasn't even scratching the surface of Sin, right Wakka?" Lulu asked, finishing off her Ether vial and smashing it. "That was nowhere near what we'll have to face in the final battle."

"Man, Lulu. D'you have to be such a killjoy?" Naruto complained, rubbing his forehead. One of the Sinscales had jumped up and headbutted him in desperation, and while his healing powers could repair any damage the attack may have caused, it didn't stop the pain. It didn't help that the creatures' heads were covered in black armour similar to a beetle's exoskeleton, either.

"Would you rather me depress you now, but have your prepared for what lies ahead, or leave you revelling in victory while we walk into battle with Sin without a clue of what to do, slaughtered because of our incompetence?"

"Well, when you put it that way... I guess so. But it doesn't matter, we'll be ready for when the time comes." Naruto finished, standing and walking off toward the cabin.

"What do you mean, 'we'?" Lulu asked, smirking. "You aren't even a guardian yet."

"Oh, come on. After all that, I still haven't earned your respect?" Naruto complained again. Lulu chuckled and shook her head.

"Of course not. I haven't seen a fraction of your true power with my own eyes. What you've shown us so far is mainly what you've learned here, or your weaker moves. You haven't shown us why you gained the moniker of Konoha's Shippuu Sennin (Hurricane Sage)." Lulu explained, as Naruto's eyes widened. How could someone from Spira know of his title? Hell, about Konoha? He had gained that title after defeating Pein and being praised as a hero by his village in his old life, a life no one in this world or even Zanarkand should know about.

"How do you..." Naruto began, but stopped himself. This was Lulu he was talking to; she would never answer his questions straight, she'd just give him a cryptic answer that told him next to nothing. "You know what, never mind. You wouldn't tell me anyway. I'm going to take a nap, ja ne." He said, before vanishing in a cloud of smoke. Wakka looked around, checking for the sign of anything blonde, before turning to Lulu.

"What was all that about? Shippuu Sennin? What the hell does that mean?" He asked curiously, though he only got a shake of the head in response.

* * *

**The Next Day...**

The S.S. Liki docked at Kilika as the sun rose into the sky, though there wasn't much to distinguish it as Kilika besides the immense forest and the temple towering above the canopy. It was quite obvious that Sin had surfaced at Kilika after having suffered some small defeat at the hands of our heroes, if the torn walkways, collapsed buildings and scattered corpses were any indication.

"Holy... what happened here?" Naruto asked, looking around incredulously at the destruction surrounding the port. Lulu silently glided along the path, passing Naruto without a word, before stopping.

"Sin happened." She informed him, causing his eyes to widen considerably.

"Wait, what? We only fought it a few hours ago, so you're telling me that it did all this and managed to disappear without a trace in such a short time?" Naruto yelled. There was no way something could do this much destruction in such a short time, let alone get to Kilika in that time. And it was equally as impossible for something the size of Sin to disappear so suddenly, leaving no evidence but the destroyed town.

"No, I'm not telling you that Sin did this in a matter of hours." She replied, shaking her head. Naruto calmed for a moment, until Lulu spoke again. "I'm telling you that Sin did this in a matter of _minutes._" Naruto's mouth dropped open and he looked around again at the destruction Sin had caused.

"Enough gawking." Wakka said, slapping his mouth closed, before pointing up to the structure towering above the village. "That's where we're headed, the Temple of Kilika." Wakka walked on ahead with Lulu and Yuna, while he and Kimahri stood there, looking around. There was a slight vibration at his leg, where his Magun was strapped once again. It seemed the golden tube was trying to pull him somewhere, but he ignored it.

"Twenty-three." Kimahri growled from beside him, causing Naruto to turn and look at him in confusion. Realisation dawned on his face, and he grinned.

"Ha! Take that, bitch! Twenty-FOUR!" He yelled cheerfully, pointing a finger at Kimahri, who let out a low growl and turned away from the blonde. "Oh, come on! Don't be a sore loser!" Not another word was spoken between the two, though within his head Naruto was doing a victory dance. They followed after their comrades into the forest, where they found the three waiting for them by a rock.

"About time. Let's get going." Lulu said, to which everyone nodded and started up the path to the temple. Though before they could even cross the bridge that went over the river, two familiar men stopped them.

"I'm sorry, Lady Yuna, but this path is blocked. Lord Ochu of the forest has attacked, and we're working to subdue him now." Luzzu told the group. A laugh followed his explanation, followed by the sound of swirling leaves. Everyone turned to Naruto, only to find that he had disappeared completely. The four pushed past Luzzu and Gatta to find an enormous plant-like beast blocking the path, surrounded by Naruto's clones. There were four attacking the fiend at random, drawing Ochu's attacks toward them, while the other one and the original held back, bright blue chakra coalescing in the real Naruto's right hand. When the chakra had settled into the form of a large glowing blue ball between the two Naruto's hands, they ran forward, thrusting the giant Rasengan into Ochu's stomach.

"**OODAMA RASENGAN!"** The two clones roared as the spiralling sphere exploded, dispelling the five clones and throwing Naruto back into a tree. Ochu was caught in the blast, and was instantly obliterated. Within the blast radius but out of the spectators' sight, a vine slid back down into a hole in the ground and out of the area. When the smoke and chakra had dissipated, all anyone could see was a large crater dug into the ground, remnants of trees lying around it while Naruto pulled himself from the tree and walked over to them.

"What are we waiting for? Christmas? Let's go already!" He exclaimed, starting once more up the path to the temple. Behind him, Wakka nudged Lulu with his elbow.

"Uhh... what's Christmas?" He asked, getting a confused look in response.

"Umm... I think it's a holiday where he comes from. Shinobi are a strange people."

* * *

**At the Temple...**

"Why can't we get a break?" Naruto complained as he drew his sword once more. They had been ambushed many times by fiends of all shapes and sizes, though most of them seemed plant-like in nature. And now, at the top of the mountain, they faced down yet another plant fiend, growing out of the plateau before the temple. In front of them was a grey shell-like growth, from which copious amounts of purple smoke was spewing out of small gaps. Behind them to the left and right were two hand-like tentacles which swayed in a nonexistent breeze, twitching violently every few moments.

"Because we're fighting against Sin, and, funnily enough, he doesn't like that." Wakka told him sarcastically, throwing his ball at the shell, only to frown as it bounced off. "Well? Does your power work on this thing?" He asked the blonde, who scowled.

"You're never gonna let that go, are you?" Naruto sighed, and used his Raiton: Byakurai no Jutsu, only to have it bounce off the shell just as effectively as Wakka's blitzball. He turned, to find Wakka smirking at him. "Don't give me that look, your attack didn't work either."

"I think it's time we have our resident summoner take a shot at this fiend." Lulu said, making Yuna look up with wide eyes.

"M-Me?" Lulu nodded, an action which the brunette reciprocated. "Okay, I'll do it." She placed her right foot back a step and held her staff out behind her, while pushing her left hand and foot forward.

A circular purple sigil appeared on the ground, from which four spheres of light shot up into the sky and vanished in the clouds. A bright light was seen as the lights collided with one another, before another bright light fell from the skies, the light quickly disappearing to reveal a wyvern-like creature falling from the heavens. It opened its wings just before it landed on the ground with incredibly sharp talons, and let out a high-pitched screech.

This, with its leathery wings, drill-like beak, ringed protrusions from its chest, and feathery red mane, was Valefor, Guardian of the Skies.

**How'd ya like that? I hope you liked this chapter, as it took a while to get it done. Sorry for the wait. Anyways, this chapter opened up a lot more points of the story: the fact that Naruto's attacks are all but useless against Sin and its Spawn, Lulu knowing more about Naruto than she lets on, and something sinister about Lord Ochu. I did think that he was an underused fiend, and they could've done so much more with him. I mean, all he did was block a path that you weren't able to go down anyway, and he wasn't even all that hard to beat. But trust me, he's gonna have a bigger part in the next few chapters. **

**Review Corner:  
****SkittleKick: I realise that the thawing is overdone, so it'll be toned down. The whole 'Soil Triad' thing will only be used for the first thawing of a new summon, and Naruto's summons won't be used much. He has other abilities, and I've made the Magun wear him out a lot, so that he won't be using it every battle.**

**nxkris: Yeah, Naruto's gonna be paired with Yuna, among others. I did say that it was going to be a harem fic, so you can probably guess how Rikku will figure into that. But Yuna, Rikku, Lulu and Kyuubi won't be the only ones. I already have a couple of new girls waiting in the wings...**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will wait around for the next one! Until next time, goodnight!**


	6. Chapter 6: Those Chosen By The Planet

**Chapter 6, Those Chosen By The Planet**

With its claws, drill-like beak and arsenal of basic elemental magic, Valefor dove at the hand-like tentacles, screeching an ear-wrenching battle cry. Geneaux attempted to spear the leather-winged aeon, but it deftly manoeuvred around its strikes, countering with a blast of flame from within its beak. The flames latched onto one of the tentacles and made short work of it, rendering it all but useless. Geneaux let out a scream of agony, and doubled its efforts to make up for the loss of one appendage.

"Whoa... hold on, I'm not letting this thing have all the fun!" Naruto yelled, leaping into the fray. He drew his sword and quickly cleaved one of the pointed 'fingers', causing a green liquid to slowly ooze from the wound. But before the blonde could attack again, Valefor, using its purple-scaled tail, threw him out of the course of another strike. The blonde skidded along the ground for a few feet before coming to a halt, and glared up at the aerial summon. Valefor looked at him and let out a sharp cry. "I... understand." Naruto said, sighing in defeat. He pulled himself to his feet and returned to the group, leaving Valefor to fight Geneaux alone. The others, especially Yuna, looked at him in surprise and awe.

"Naruto... you can speak with aeons?" She asked, starry-eyed. Naruto sweatdropped at her awe-filled expression and backed away slightly, shaking his head.

"No, nothing like that. I could just get a basic idea of what it was saying, from its actions." He answered, but it did nothing to quell Yuna's admiration. But suddenly, just as Valefor had landed a hit on Geneaux's main body, a terrible roar shook the ground beneath their feet and the paved plateau began to crack, letting several more of the hand-like tentacles to burst free and sway in the wind.

"You kidding me? There're more of these things?" Wakka said, grabbing his blitzball. But as he readied to attack, another, much stronger tremor shook the earth. Before their eyes, a brown, wooden mass began to rise from the ground, throwing rocks and debris everywhere as it burst upwards. It revealed itself to be an enormous tree, with a yellow slitted eye open on its trunk, watching them. Its branches writhed and squirmed, as if each having their own mind. Then, several large purple-skinned seed pods rained down from the canopy, bursting open to reveal copies of the same fiend they had fought, or rather Naruto had fought, at the bridge.

"W-What the hell is that thing?" Wakka yelled, cowering away from the enormous tree than stared down with obvious rage at the wounds Yuna's summon had caused it. Lulu didn't answer, but immediately began charging a Fire spell. Valefor, still floating in the air before the team, did the same. Kimahri took up a defensive stance in front of Yuna, obviously unperturbed by the appearance of the organic fiend. Naruto, on the other hand, remained utterly silent. His face was the picture of seriousness as he raised his thumb to his lips and bit down on the calloused skin, drawing blood.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu." **He spoke calmly, after running through several handsigns and slamming his hand on the ground, where several seal surrounded his palm. A huge cloud of smoke engulfed him, obscuring him from the view of both his friends and the fiends, who held back until they knew what to expect.

"**No way... kid? You're alive?" **A deep, throaty voice asked incredulously, accompanied by the sound of something very large colliding with the ground. This was followed by two more large somethings, but neither spoke. Everyone could hear the distinctive sound of weapons being drawn, however. The smoke slowly dissipated, revealing Naruto standing on the head of a very large toad, with two more by its side. The first had red skin with a large scar over its left eye, and wore a blue jacket, with a pipe in its mouth and a sword in hand. The second had deep green skin with a pale blue belly and a yellow cloth wrapped around its middle. It wielded a pair of swords, and its expression remained completely blank. The third had deep red, almost purple skin with a strange u-shape marking that ran from eye to eye. It wore a black kimono tied with a white obi, and wielded a sasumata and sakizuki shield. **"Where the hell've you been? Where are we?" **

"Sorry to worry you, 'Bunta." Naruto said, smiling. Gamabunta scoffed and looked down at the ground.

"**Don't be stupid. I don't worry 'bout you, ya little brat. But 'Kichi's been worried sick 'bout ya, y'know? Maybe you should summon him when you get the chance."**

"Of course. I expect he's gotten pretty big by now, huh? I mean, I've been gone seventeen years."

"**Damn straight. Pretty soon he'll be taking over the Toad Clan, and I'll be steppin' down. More time to drink, I guess."**

"I hope you're sober enough for this, Chief!" Naruto yelled, pointing up at the enormous tree. Gama grinned and signalled to Gamahiro and Gamaken, who rushed forward and swung at the tree with their own respective weapons. Naruto leapt off Gamabunta's head, allowing the Toad Boss to join his fellows in attacking the tree. Naruto, meanwhile, closed his eyes, a blazing blue aura appearing around him. His eyelids turned orange all of a sudden, and when he opened them they revealed yellow eyes with a rectangular pupil, similar to that of his toad summons. "Sennin Moodo complete!"

"**Then get over here and take this thing down already!" **Gamabunta roared, evading a swing of one of the tree's branches and quickly cutting it off, only to have it grow back moments later. The rest of the team watched in awe as the three toads battled the tree, with Naruto behind them charging chakra of some sort, two clones beside him. The chakra took the form of a shuriken, with what looked like a Rasengan in the centre.

"**Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!"** Naruto roared, his two clones vanishing as their purpose ended. With his jutsu complete, Naruto sprinted forward, leaping off of Gamabunta's head and slamming the whirling blades of wind chakra into the bark of the great tree, an explosion of chakra forming from the point of impact and obscuring the blonde once again. An unholy screech tore at their eardrums as the tree writhed in pain, and when the smoke cleared the group saw why. Naruto's ultimate jutsu had carved a perfectly circular hole in its bark, which revealed that the huge tree, despite its apparent density, was completely hollow. The blonde had obviously disappeared inside, but the others were far too preoccupied in battling the smaller fiends and tentacles to investigate.

Inside the tree, Naruto landed hard on the floor of the hollowed tree, grunting in pain as he pulled himself to his feet. It was at this moment that something rather... odd caught his eye. At the other end of the wooden cavern, several thick, leafy vines wrapped around a crystal statue much like the Fayth he had seen at Besaid Temple. It was glowing bright green, and the vines seemed to feed off this energy as they writhed animatedly. Strangely, the statue had a pained look on its face, as if it could feel the torture it was being put under. That was when he realised that this fayth had a face in the first place, and a body for that matter. It was in the form of a girl, perhaps a year or so older than he, with straight hair that only reached her shoulders. Whatever her body below her neck looked like, he could not see due to the veritable iron maiden of vines that imprisoned her.

He took a step forward and, as if responding to his movement, the light emanating from the tortured statue grew brighter and the vines imprisoning her bulged outwards. Vines shot out of the wooden walls and sped towards him with thorns the size of shortswords. He raised his own blade just in time to clash with the fastest of the blades, then forced it off ad spun around to cleave another, leaving it flopping helplessly on the floor like a fish out of water, spraying green liquid that Naruto quickly found had a rather displeasing odour. More vines attacked, and no matter how fast he dispatched them, for every one he killed three more seemed to spring from the walls intent on ending him once and for all.

_'Thaw, dammit!' _He roared mentally, his eyes flickering down at the sealed Magun on his thigh. The vines, as if they saw this momentary lapse in concentration, leapt for the chance and rocketed toward him, his eyes widening in shock as he saw the organic appendages reaching ever closer to his skin. But then, something strange but not altogether unpleasant happened. The vines reared back as if burnt, emitting horrible shrieks that tore at his eardrums. It was then he realised that they had indeed been burnt; flames had seemingly erupted from his body and washed over the all too flammable plants. The flames still lingered on him, but didn't hurt, nor were they particularly hot. It was merely a warm, comforting feeling rather than the searing pain that the tree seemed to be only just enduring.

"Gotcha, you statue-raping bastard!" He yelled, leaping at the vines that still encased the fayth and gripping one with a flaming hand. The tendrils wriggled free with more agonising screeches, sinking into the bark once more and allowing the fayth to fall to the floor. Or, it would have, had it not suddenly been engulfed by a bright white light which quickly faded to reveal a girl, of the same description as the statue, falling rapidly toward the ground. Instinctively, he rushed forward and caught the girl in a manner incredibly resemblant of some fairy tale-inspired movie. And then, as if he hadn't enough to deal with, the tree began to shake wildly. Not sparing another thought, he leapt out through the whole formed by his Rasenshuriken and back out onto Ohalland's Plateau, where his friends stared at him with wide eyes and dropped jaws. Or rather, at the thing behind him.

"Ah... I might have to apologise for that, huh?" He remarked, as the tree seemed to fall, exhausted, on top of Kilika Temple. Thankfully, the temple had been reinforced and held under the weight of the tree, but there wouldn't have been any need for those precautions if it weren't for him. He turned back, smiled nervously, and shrugged his shoulders, an act that highlighted the unconscious girl in his arms.

"Always causing trouble, yah?" Wakka asked, shaking his head with a grin. "Man, I've only known ya for three days and already I feel like I've known ya my whole life."

"This isn't the time to get sappy, old man." Wakka sobered up and scowled at the blonde who dared to call him old. "Are we done here? I've gotta take a nap." Kimahri stepped forward and took the girl from him without a word, and silently walked off into the temple. Lulu sighed, looking at the carnage he had inadvertently caused, and followed after the Ronso. Wakka and Yuna stepped in line moments later, though Yuna seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if she wanted to talk to him, before thinking better of it and hurrying along. In that instant, he saw something he couldn't quite place... bah, it probably wasn't important. Probably a question about summoning.

* * *

"Hey, you awake?" Naruto lazily lifted a single eyelid to stare at the blitz captain with a look of annoyance at having been woken from his slumber. Rather than continue straight to the Cloister of Trials, the gang had decided to rest after their tiring battle. Without waiting for a response from the blonde, Wakka continued. "I just wanted to say... you did good yesterday. Hell, you did more than good. I bet even Sir Auron or Sir Jecht would've had trouble with that thing, and you managed to take it down with... well, minimum collateral."

"I'm sure you're just saying that." The absence of Wakka's casual manner of speech was not lost on him, but he didn't comment on it. This obviously was a serious matter for the older man, and ruining it with such a silly observation would no doubt appear poorly in his eyes. After all, if Yuna wanted him to be a guardian, he had to prove himself to the others first.

"Nah, it's the truth. I sure as hell wouldn't be able to kill that monster, and the power you showed earlier was incredible. I guess I just wanted to say... I would be honoured to fight alongside you as a guardian," Wakka finished, dropping to one knee with a hand over his heart in a universal gesture of respect. Naruto blushed slightly under the praise, but hid it quickly with a grin.

"Sure, as long as you're not so serious all the time, old man." The jab at his age did not go unnoticed if Wakka's irritated groan was any indicator, but he didn't get angry. It would ruin the mood. "How's the fayth girl?"

"Huh?"

"Long story. The girl I brought in from the tree? How is she?"

"Still sound asleep. She hasn't woken up at all. Yuna's beginning to worry about her, even though she doesn't know her at all. Guess that's Yuna for ya." The orange-haired man helped Naruto to his feet and stepped back to the doorframe. He glanced out into the corridor, and his face paled. "Well, I should probably be going now. See ya!" He hurried out of the door, leaving Naruto with a confused look, until Lulu stormed into the room with a face like thunder. She raised her hand and bolts of lightning danced between her fingers, threatening the blonde with an excruciatingly painful Thunder spell.

"Well, that's a fine 'good morning'. Did I do something to piss you off, or do you naturally hate me?" A pale blue spark veered dangerously close to his face, and his mouth snapped shut.

"Wakka may have given you his blessing to be a guardian, the blind fool he is, but I most certainly have not. Do you realise how much danger you forced upon us all yesterday? Rushing in head first without knowing what was what, you must have some kind of death wish. I don't know what idea might have been running through your head, but next time you decide to jump into a demon tree to save someone, don't. Honestly, you're worse than your father." That was the last straw. Naruto countered Lulu's Thunder by grabbing at her wrist and pulling it to the side. The dark-haired woman released her black magic in surprise, and lightning collided with the stone wall in a shower of sparks. Naruto's hand shot at her throat and held mere inches from her skin, white electricity arcing between his own calloused digits.

"That's it, Lulu! What are you hiding from me? What do you know about Jecht that I don't?" Naruto roared in her face, his eyes taking on the trademark blood-red irises and slit pupils of the Kyuubi. Lulu looked unfazed by his appearance, but confused by his words.

"Jecht? I never... oh, you must have misunderstood. I didn't mean your _adoptive _father." Naruto's eyes widened in shock, and his hand slowly withdrew from her neck. His expression almost demanded she continue. "I met your father, your _real _father, a few times. He passed through Besaid on his travels, and we talked. We became friends, and soon after I found myself growing attracted to him. He wasn't exactly repulsive, after all. But then, when he told me of you and your mother, I felt almost betrayed, even though you were born before I even met him. He left after that, and I never saw him again. No one did."

Naruto collapsed back against the headboard of his bed, the two having moved to sit sometime during the explanation, straining to comprehend the mind-blowing amount of information being given to him.

"But... my dad lived in _my _world. Not Zanarkand, not here. So how..." He looked over at the black mage, who hid her eyes. There was more she was hiding, particularly about that subject, but he didn't pry. "What was he like?"

"Where do I begin?" Lulu said with a laugh that sounded strange from her, not known for her sense of humour. "He was a great man, for sure. Intelligent, heroic, kind, and powerful enough to battle Maester Jyscal to a standoff when he insulted Lord Braska, who your father respected greatly. Apparently, he reminded him of an old friend of his, a man named Hiashi." Naruto groaned, knowing exactly who she was talking about. The dreaded patriarch of the Hyuuga Clan, Hiashi Hyuuga. The one who had turned Neji into the spiteful monster that Naruto had freed him from at the Chuunin Exams all those years ago.

"I'm guessing everyone else met him?" Naruto asked, to which Lulu nodded.

"That's why Yuna trusts you so much. She doesn't know that you're his son, I'm the only one who knows things like that. No, it's more like you... remind her of him. You're so much like the man it's scary. But then, you have the same fiery determination he always said your mother had." Lulu sighed. "I wish I could've met her, she sounds like a great woman."

"So when you said about me being the 'Shippuu Sennin'..."

"It was a title your father spoke of, long ago. Apparently, the main character in a man named Jiraiya's book, who just so happened to be your namesake, went on to become the hero of his village and was hailed as the Hurricane Sage for years to come. He knew that you'd do great things just like him, and that the 'Hokage', whatever that is, would call you that. For the sake of tradition."

"You know, this is a lot to take in."

"Oh, I don't doubt it. But I felt you needed to know. I wouldn't have-" Lulu was cut off by an enraged shriek that echoed through the halls and brought their full attention. The two rushed out of the room, earning a strange look from Kimahri who just happened to be walking past on his way to Yuna's room with a plate of food in his monstrous hands. In the main hall of the temple, where stood the same four statues he had seen in Besaid, a dark-skinned woman in a very revealing outfit that seemed to be made from string and not much else and her large, muscular companion stood by the double doors leading into the temple from the devastated plateau, glaring at the tree root that had apparently fallen over the entrance while they slept.

"What in Yevon's name is this?" She screeched, gesturing to the gnarled wood with a manicured hand. Naruto groaned and stepped forward, chakra gathering around his hands.

"Sheesh, if it's that much of a bother for you, I'll get rid of it. Aren't you summoners supposed to use magic, anyway?" The woman didn't respond, instead choosing to watch with interest as Naruto ran through a quick chain of seals and pushed his outstretched hands out in front of him. **"Katon: Shakkaho!"** A perfectly circular ball of red leapt from his fingers and shot at the wooden obstruction, colliding with it in a burst of crimson flame. The heat could be felt throughout the hall as the tree root was quickly burnt to little more than ashes, and the way was clear once more.

"Huh, that was pretty impressive. And you say you're not a summoner? A black mage then?"

"Something like that," Naruto responded, stepping over to greet Yuna who had been watching the exchange silently by the statue of her father. The unfamiliar summoner looked at the two, and smiled.

"Ah, of course. I should've expected such things from one of _Lady Yuna's _guardians." The group all looked round at her, and she surveyed them. "But really my dear, is such a rabble really necessary for your protection? Quality over quantity my dear, didn't anyone tell you?"

"I'm proud to have as many guardians as I do," Yuna retorted loudly, something unusual for her. "Because I have as many guardians as I have people I trust with my life." Naruto shot a strange look at the young summoner; did she really trust him enough to offer him a place as a guardian? She'd known him for all of a few days, even if he did look like his father.

"Well, I only need one guardian," the other summoner spoke, ignoring Yuna's statement completely. "Isn't that right, Barthello?" The muscular man beside her nodded vigorously with a deep grunt, then fell silent and unmoving once more. "Well, I suppose I'd better be off. More temples to visit, you know the deal. The name's Dona... remember it, why don't you?" And with that, Dona and Barthello left through the hole Naruto had opened up, and the horrible feeling in the air faded as her condescending attitude lost its sway over the atmosphere.

"Ugh, I hope we never meet her again," Wakka commented, before Naruto clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Don't say that! If you say that, she'll never leave us alone! You'll jinx us for life!" Wakka, while initially surprised at the sudden attack, quickly relaxed and pushed the blonde off of him, looking over to Yuna.

"Hey, you ready to go? You need to pray at the Chamber down stairs, but first it's another Cloister of Trials. Hope you're ready for this." Yuna nodded and began to ascend the steps into the cloister. But as the group walked through the stone double doors and stepped onto the circular elevator, Naruto was forced off by a rough Ronso hand.

"Hey, what gives?"

"You're not a guardian. Not yet, anyways," Lulu informed him with a small smirk, and the blonde groaned, before slumping down against a wall, preparing to wait.

"Fine, I'll just wait here. Try not to be too long." The elevator descended with a soft hum, and Naruto was left alone in the entrance, quietly humming to himself. That is, until the door opened again and two unfortunately familiar presences entered.

"Oh? It's a surprise to see you here. I thought you were a guardian," Dona remarked, eyeing the blonde with a look of amusement, Barthello stood at her side. Naruto groaned and stared ahead with a bored look, head resting in his palm.

"Not quite yet. Gotta earn my badge, I guess." He replied, before going silent. Something about this woman seemed off, and he'd have liked to talk to her as little as possible. Dona turned to give a pointed look at her guardian, and nodded with a conniving smirk. With a heavy step, Barthello closed the distance between him and the smaller blonde and grabbed a fistful of his shirt just as the soft hum of the elevator filled the chamber once more, signalling its return to the surface. With one fluid movement, Barthello lifted Naruto clear off the ground and hefted him onto the circular platform with a dull thud, before stepping back. "What the hell d'ya think you're doing, asshole? I told you, I can't go down th-" Before he could finish, Dona's smirk widened and the platform began to float downwards rapidly, quickly replacing the sight of the two unfriendly pilgrims with the unforgiving stone wall of the elevator shaft.

"Ugh... how do I keep getting myself into these messes?"

* * *

At that moment, the rest of the group were just finishing the Cloister of Trials, and were preparing to move onto the Chamber of the Fayth, when Yuna stopped abruptly. The other slowed to a halt around her, giving her odd looks.

"Do you think... do you think leaving him up there was a good idea?" Yuna asked, her eyes cast downwards at her clasped hands. Lulu sighed.

"He can take care of himself. You've seen evidence enough of that," she replied, but fell silent when Yuna shook her head vigorously.

"That's not what I mean. I mean... wouldn't it've been better for all of us if he came along?"

"I suppose it would be easier to keep an eye on him and make sure he stays out of trouble. But the temple's laws are clear: only summoners and their guardians are allowed in the Cloister. He's already broken that rule once, I doubt he'd be stupid enough to break it a second time," the black mage reasoned, but any chance Yuna had at rebuttal was cut off as a loud yell resounded through the halls.

"YEOWCH!"

The band looked at each other.

"Never underestimate Naruto," Wakka groaned, smacking a palm to his forehead.

* * *

"YEOWCH!" Naruto yelled, pulling his hand back as if burnt. Which, of course, he had been. "Last time I touch a burning net! ...Guess I really should've figured that one out. I suppose this is another puzzle, just like the last one." A quick survey of the small chamber he found himself in gave him one empty pedestal, like the ones he had seen during his destruction of the cloister at Besaid, and a crimson sphere set into an indent in the wall beside the burning net that covered the door. The sphere itself was also alight with flames, but as Naruto instinctively reached out to touch it, the flames vanished and the warmth inside faded until it was merely a colourful stone. The blonde tore it free from its resting place, and as by magic the net disintegrated into nothing. His way clear, Naruto took the sphere with him into the next room, thinking it useful.

But after another set of puzzles, this time involving even more slots and spheres and, god forbid, _backtracking_ (shudder), Naruto had had enough.

"I've had enough!" he cried, throwing down yet another Kilika Sphere. But the magical orb, with its otherworldly protections, merely bounced harmlessly on the stone floor. "Damn temples! Why can't they ever make this simple? What kind of summoner's got the time for this crap?" With a roar he whirled around and face the stone wall that stood in his path, chakra igniting in his palm and quickly taking the familiar form of a Rasengan, which ploughed into the thick stone and ground against it for a small while, before exploding outwards and taking the barrier with it.

"Take that, ya damn wall... oh, hey guys!" he greeted his bewildered teammates with a small wave, kicking a piece of debris away from him. "Oh, sorry 'bout that, Kimahri my man." With a soft growl the blue Ronso rose to his full height, having ducked to evade a barrage of sharp stones spearing into the wall behind him.

"Naruto. Why am I not surprised? Can't you do anything simply?" Lulu asked, holding a hand to her head.

"This _was _simple! Simpler than that damn puzzle, that's for sure!" Then, as he glanced around at the destruction he had caused, the debris that littered the floor began to hover, and flew back into place as the wall resealed itself. Naruto looked at the rebuilt wall with amazement, for it had nary an imperfection on its surface. It looked better than new. "Well, ain't that a kick in the head. Guess it's for the best, I did do a real number on Besaid. So, what's going on?"

"We were waiting for you," Lulu informed him.

"Yah, when we heard you hurt yourself, we thought it'd be best to wait. That way you can't destroy anything. Heh, a man can dream." Wakka pointed a thumb to the raised gate of the Chamber of the Fayth. "Yuna's already getting' started. You should catch your breath, it won't take long." As soon as he'd finished, the heavy stone slab that served as the chamber's door slid open, and Yuna stepped out, her legs wobbling slightly.

"Th-The... the fayth wants... to see you, Naruto," Yuna gasped, her face red with exhaustion. With a raised eyebrow, Naruto took to his feet and walked over to the tired summoner, who took his hand in hers and led him into the chamber. When Wakka tried to follow, however, the door slid shut, sealing the pair inside.

"What d'ya think that was about?" he asked his gothic companion, who stayed silent for a moment.

"I'd rather not think about it."

* * *

Yuna pulled her blonde companion into the large chamber that housed the Fayth, the crystal statue that here took the form of a large disc portraying a strange horned beast, flames spewing from its black jaws. The statue glowed with an ethereal light, which only intensified as he drew near, as if responding to his presence.

"You said you wanted to speak with him? He's here," Yuna called out, and the light began to coalesce into a gleaming orb, floating a few feet above the surface of the disc.

"So he is," a voice echoed from within the sphere, a voice that Naruto couldn't help but find familiar. But from where? "Arigatou, Yuna-san. You have saved me a great deal of trouble by bringing him here."

"Aha! I know who you are!" Naruto yelled suddenly, pointing an accusing finger at the sphere, which seemed to give off an aura of confusion. Then, Naruto's triumphant smirk faded, to be replaced with a look akin to horror. "B-But you're supposed to be... dead... A GHOST!" he screamed, only to stop when the orb spoke again.

"I am not a ghost. How insulting. But you're right, I _am _dead. Just like every other fayth in Spira. It's a basic principle of _being _a fayth. I'll answer any questions you may have at the end, for now I have something far more important to say." The orb of light exploded outwards, and reformed into the translucent, ghostly form of a young man with raven-black hair tied into a small ponytail, his onyx eyes gleaming. His face, while youthful, was creased and mature, as if he'd seen far more than his fair share of the world, and the stare he levelled on Naruto was blank and unflinching.

"I-Itachi..."

**And end! Huge cliffhanger to end on, the return of one of the most loved characters in the entire Narutoverse in fayth form. More will be explained next chapter, whenever that comes. You've also gotten a little taster of Lulu's connection to Naruto's life, along with Naruto's connection with his old life in Konoha. The toads will return. The unnamed fayth girl from the tree will play a large part in the story, I assure you. I'm not putting characters in for the lulz this time. And, of course, since Naruto visited another temple he'll acquire another Summon to use. I've decided not to limit him to the ones used in FFU, because that would be ridiculously boring. So I'm making up a few Soil Triads based on the description of each Soil on the FFWiki. **

**Now, for a few questions. **

**Trinity Fenton-Phantom: Your idea sounds intriguing, and with the fayth plot twist I have set up I should be able to make it work. I'll take it into consideration. **

**Komada: Your suggestion about Kushina isn't far off from what I have planned, actually. Safe to say, both she and Minato will play a part in this. **

**Marvey4: Honestly, I have no idea why I gave him fox ears. It was a spur of the moment thing, and the only purpose they have is for him to realise that Kyuubi is a girl. They have no impact on the story whatsoever, so if you want you can completely disregard them. I would.**

**Wicken25: True, due to his life as a ninja Naruto would be able to understand how hard Jecht's life has been. But that's just it: how hard has Jecht's life really been? He was an idol, the star of the blitz sphere, and he threw it away with alcohol. You remember how angry Naruto got at Tsunade when he confronted here during the Tsunade Retrieval Arc? How she was running away from everything and drowing her sorrows in poker and sake? Same principle applies. **

**Nim istar: Hmm, I don't know. Paine, I'm sorry, has never really done it for me in the same way Yuna, Rikku, or any other FF girl has. Not sure I can accurately write her masculine attitude into a relationship with Naruto, especially since I'm not too keen on masculine girls in the first place. I'll try, that's all I can say. If it doesn't work out, hey, there's always Gippal I can pawn her off onto. **

**Mangafreak & Luxlucis85DK: Well, most of your questions are answered. Mangafreak, Kyuubi will most likely come out later, otherwise I can't have my daily dose of drama. As for contact with Konoha... There, I've made up my mind. Oh, you wanted to know the answer? Sorry, you'll have to find out later! ^_^**

**Finally, I just have a couple of things to say. I apologise profusely for the loooong delay for this chapter. I'm not going to promise that it'll never happen again, as I'll most likely be lying. With my final year at school now upon me, my near-broken computer, lack of any real ideas and annoying persistent ideas for other stories, I haven't had a lot of time to write this. I hope this tides you over till next time. **

**Secondly, I have a favour to ask of my readers. In this and my other stories, FSIR and Blood Breathers, I foresee a time that graphic material will be added for story purposes. In other words, lemons. If and when that time comes, I fear I will be unable to write those scenes due to several conflicting factors. So, I ask of you, if any of you have the skill and experience necessary to write such a piece, come forward. I would ask you to help me with this in Always Dreaming and the others if you're willing. Job perks: a title, and possibly a hat. We'll see. This message will be posted on my other stories as well, just so you know. I ask that if you should apply, please send in an example piece in a PM, so that I can judge the best. Thank you. Until next time, good night!**


	7. Chapter 7: And Your Dead Can Talk

**Chapter 7, And Your Dead Can Talk**

"How? Why?" Naruto interrogated the ethereal Uchiha hurriedly, his expression bewildered, whereas Itachi watched him with a blank stare. Yuna looked between the two, confused but silent. "What are you doing here? You died in our world, not Spira or Zanarkand! How could _you _possibly be a fayth?"

"It's more complex than time would permit me to explain. A fayth is only supposed to remain in this humanoid for as long as it takes for the summoner to finish praying, which isn't very long to begin with. Besides, there are others better suited for that task than I. Now wipe that dumbfounded look off your face and listen closely, as I'll only say this once and it is of the utmost importance." Naruto dropped to the floor and took a cross-legged seat on the cold stones before the crystalline shrine, while Yuna slowly sat beside him, her legs folded under her as they both waited for Itachi to begin.

"Good. Now, allow me to begin my tale with a question: did you know what Madara Uchiha was after when you fought him?"

"Uhh... the bijuu? Didn't he want to use them to scare the villages into obeying him?"

"Not quite. Pein's plan was similar to that: he intended to unleash the beasts on the villages in secret and then show up with his Akatsuki to reseal the beast and therefore save them from destruction. He would be heralded as a hero, and would use his newfound stature in the world's order to bring about an era of peace. Madara, on the other hand, had other plans. Working in the shadows, he would collect the combined chakra of the nine tailed beasts and reform the ancient Ten-Tailed Beast that has not walked the earth since the days of the Rikudou Sennin. With its chakra, and its body still sealed within the moon, he would cast his Tsukuyomi on the moon's surface and use it to control the minds of the masses. It certainly was an interesting plan, but not one I am proud of being a part."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What's your point? Not like it matters now, the Kyuubi's still in here," he placed a hand on his stomach, "So Madara's plans are halted permanently, right? Nothing to worry about."

"You'd think. After you were accidentally cast into the Kamui, Madara realised that his plans would now never come to fruition and decided to initiate a hastily formed 'Plan B'. With the bijuu he had already extracted, he declared an all-out war on the Shinobi Nations. This normally wouldn't too much of a bother even with the tailed beasts on his side, after all he was assaulting the five strongest countries in the world, countries forged through centuries of war, with only a few unintelligent monsters and the remaining three members of Akatsuki on his side. However, aid came from an unlikely source, one whose name I'm sure you're quite familiar with. Yakushi Kabuto, Orochimaru's right hand man."

"Didn't Sasuke kill Orochimaru?"

"Indeed, but that didn't stop his apprentice from taking the reins after his demise. He implanted himself with Orochimaru's cells, and used his newfound power to use Orochimaru's forbidden jutsu, the Edo Tensei (Impure World Resurrection) to revive hundreds of fallen warriors from across the continent. The fallen Akatsuki, previous Kage, the first seven jinchuuriki and even famous shinobi such as Sarutobi Asuma, the Gold and Silver Brothers and Kiri's Seven Shinobi Swordsmen. Needless to say, it was a bloodbath."

"What about Konoha!" Naruto yelled, rising in anger. "If what you say is true, then there's no way that Tsunade-baachan could stay out of it! Madara wouldn't let her!" Itachi didn't answer. His head lowered apologetically, hiding from Naruto's furious eyes. They widened in horror as Naruto realised just what the late missing-nin was insinuating. "What happened to them, Itachi." The friendliness that had always been apparent to some degree in Naruto's voice was gone, replaced with a cold insincerity that caused the young summoner at his side to shiver.

"You must know that they had no choice. One cannot simply hide away when the entire world is at war, especially not when they are one of the fiercest powers to have-"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM!" Naruto roared, his eyes turning crimson as rage flooded his body. Itachi hesitated for a moment, then sighed.

"They didn't survive, Naruto. Tsunade, Kakashi, your friends... they were each consumed by the fires of war. Kabuto's animated corpses were incredibly resistant to damage, never 'fatigued, and could regenerate any damage they were subjected to. In addition, The Edo Tensei is an incredible technique in that it has absolutely no adverse effect on the summoner, so Kabuto was able to use it again and again. And then, when Madara finally marched on Konoha with vengeance in his heart, he used the Rinnegan he'd stolen from Pein's corpse to bury Konoha and all of its inhabitants. There's nothing left of it now."

"Where's Madara now?"

"Naruto, you must understand that you travelled through time itself. The events that lead to Konoha's defeat occurred over one thousand years ago now. I've been waiting here for just this occasion. As for how I knew you would come, the eyes of the dead see many things that the living do not."

"I didn't ask about that! I know for a fact that Madara used a space-time ninjutsu to survive for over a hundred years! What's to stop him from staying alive for a thousand! WHERE IS HE!"

"...I don't know. He saved Konoha for last, so once that was out of the way it was all over. Only problem was that with the five Great Nations gone, there was nothing left for him to rule over. I watched him as a spirit, floating around, as he wandered the wasteland for a while as if in search of something. Then, one day he simply vanished without a trace, and with no means for me to follow. I'm sorry, Naruto." The blonde fell silent. His head was lowered so his fringe obscured his eyes, and his fists clenched so tightly that his palms bled. Yuna rose to her feet and took hold of one of his rough, calloused hands in her own, looking up at him in worry, turning to Itachi's image.

"Um... Itachi, was it?" She said nervously. She'd garnered from he and Naruto's discussion that this man, if he could be called such, was not of Spira, and she doubted he was as carefree as Naruto if the deep creases in his skin were any indication. She could also feel the same cold, unsociable aura emanating from him as she often did from Lulu.

"That is correct, Yuna-san. May I help you in some way?"

"I don't believe you called Naruto here just to tell him all that. What is it you _really _want?"

Itachi smiled knowingly. "Very perceptive of you. I do believe from what I have seen that you would have made a fine shinobi, were you not so believing in the goodness of mankind. You are correct once again, I did indeed have other reasons for calling Naruto here. As you may have gathered by listening to our conversation, which I don't doubt you were," Yuna's face flushed with embarrassment, "Naruto's being here is the fault of one specific man: Madara Uchiha, the same man who utterly decimated the village both Naruto and I once called home. In doing so, he has upset a natural balance that has kept the world stable for countless millennia. I'm sure you understand that the world isn't best pleased with this development. With thousands upon thousands of souls passing through the door between this life and the next, the delicate workings of the planet have come loose, and are slowly spinning into chaos. That's where you come in."

"M-Me?" Yuna asked incredulously, and Itachi nodded.

"Yes, you and, of course, Naruto, alongside the rest of your band of hardy warriors are destined for something far greater than you could have imagined. We fayth are entrusting you, as both of you are beacons of hope in your respective worlds, to right this terrible wrong."

"...And just how are we supposed to do that?" Naruto asked, finally finding his voice. He spoke in a low growl, his voice hoarse from yelling. "You expect us to bring back the dead?"

"We expect you to ensure that the next generation lives to be born, so that the cycle of life may continue as designed."

* * *

"You sure you're okay, brudda?" Wakka asked worriedly when Yuna and Naruto emerged from the Chamber of the Fayth without a word to the group. The very air around the usually cheerful blonde was suffocating; his head was down again, casting a dark shadow over his face while his fists were clenched. "What happened in dere?"

"Perhaps it's none of your business, Wakka," Lulu suggested coldly, and the blitz captain laughed nervously, squeezing the boy's shoulder gently.

"Yahaha, sorry 'bout that. Didn't mean no harm, ya?" Naruto didn't say a word. The trip back through the Cloister of Trials was an awkwardly silent one, and almost everyone was grateful to be out of the enclosed space of the narrow tunnels and back into the candlelit hall of the temple, where people still prayed for various causes.

"Are we ready to go?" Lulu asked as she turned to the group once they'd descended the steps leading up to the Cloister's door. Yuna shook her head and looked to Kimahri, who nodded and disappeared into the tunnels to the side of the hall. He returned a minute later with the red-haired girl, still sleeping soundly, in his arms. He grunted softly, and Yuna smiled in thanks, before turning back to Lulu.

"All set! Let's head back to the village!" The motley crew stepped out of the temple and into the blaring sunshine that fell onto Ohalland's Plateau. The place was still a total wreck from their battle with the true form of Sinspawn Geneaux, with broken tiles torn from the ground and strewn wildly about, holes that dug deep into the ground in random places, and a large portion of the square completely missing where one of the treelike fiend's massive roots had plunged into the earth. Wakka grinned and ran ahead to the centre of the square, where people were beginning to clear up the destruction, and begun to lend a hand. Lulu sighed and shook her head, walking on regardless with Kimahri and Yuna in tow. Naruto trailed slowly behind them, still downcast and silent. "It's good that they've already started to rebuild this place. With the destruction that happened yesterday, it may take a while for it to be complete again," Yuna said to no one in particular as she walked past the working villagers, watching their labours with interest. Then, a familiar unholy roar echoed over the mountain top as the fallen trunk of Geneaux's massive form rose up and flailed madly. The people on the plateau fled in terror from the monster as it rained its organic fury down upon them once again, and the band of fighters readied themselves once again. But not one looked Naruto's way.

"Goddamnit..." he cursed quietly, his voice once again a low, guttural growl that would scare the scales off a Sahagin. Then, all of a sudden, his rage exploded in a torrential wave as red chakra flowed from his body in heavy pulses. His hair grew thicker and wilder, his teeth and nails lengthened into fangs and claws, and his eyes morphed into their demonic scarlet form. The red cloak around his shoulders whipped around him with the winds generated by the foul power that radiated from his body as he levelled a furious glare on the Sinspawn. In an instant, the Magun was in its thawed state and strapped to his arm, its crosshair centered on the monster. **"Why won't you just die already!" **The Soil canisters were in his hand before he realised he'd taken them, and he slotted them into the Magun's chamber one by one.

**"A horrible rain of anger; Aero Black!"**

**"The rising of boiling blood; Heat Crimson!"**

**"The roar of the sky being destroyed; Horizon Gold!"**

**"Cry, Summoned Creature! BELIAS!"**

With his final roar, Naruto pulled the Magun's trigger and unleashed the triplicate streams of light, twisting and turning through the air until finally they collided on a single point in the centre of the broken plateau, directly before the revived fiend. The stone seemed to bubble and boil as crimson light seeped up through the cracks, illuminating the battleground with an eerie glow while dark clouds gathered overhead. Flames licked at the white-tiled floor as the light grew into a great blaze that flared into the sky far over the heads of our heroes. Out of the towering inferno stepped a creature, easily twice the height of a Ronso, its shoulders, chest and forearms wrapped in a blazing orange fur. Two ornate bronze masks were nestled in the mass of flaming red, devilish horns curling into it. The beast had four arms, with the second pair smaller and lower so that they were in line with its second mask. Its larger arms took hold of an intricate bronzed axe, while the smaller clasped together as if in prayer.

"What is that thing?" Wakka asked, the group's assault having been stopped by Belias' sudden arrival. The gigas gave a bestial roar as it ground its hooves into the earth, staring Geneaux down with eyeless sockets. The plantlike fiend screeched and shot two thick vines at the beast, but one was summarily cut down with ease by Belias' axe, while the other burst spontaneously into flames as it neared the Esper. It stamped its hooves angrily, and the flames around it began to build until the heat was unbearable. The axe in its hands lit up with white-hot flame and it let loose a final roar as it swung the enormous weapon with all its strength. The flames followed the axe's swing and lashed out at the thick bark, cleaving through the organic material with ease. The arc of flame continued through the monster's body until it broke out the other side, dissipating into the sky and leaving behind a gash in Geneaux's side that still burnt with white flame, eating away at the bark, until the Sinspawn too began to fade into a mass of bright white pyreflies and vanish into the air.

"Come back from that, ya ugly sonuvabitch- ugh!" Naruto cursed, cut off abruptly as he raised a hand hastily to his mouth and coughed heavily into it, his other holding his stomach. He pulled the hand away and saw the distinct red on his palm, before his vision swam and faded into darkness just as Belias did into flame.

* * *

"Urgh..." Naruto groaned, holding his stomach as he slowly rose from his bed. Bright white lights still danced in his eyes, and his head felt as if it were trying to split itself open, which was all too possible. He looked to his bedside where he expected to find Yuna keeping a silent vigil over his sleeping form, but was instead met with Lulu's icy stare. "H-Hey, Lu... what's shakin'?"

"I don't know whether to dignify that with a response... what were you thinking? I thought you were planning on thinking about what you do from now on, but what do you do? You rush into battle once again! Use your head for once! First you use up all that power in the first battle, then you decide in your infinite wisdom to unleash that, that _thing," _she gestured angrily at the Magun, sitting silently on the bed beside him, once again in its frozen state, "without fully knowing of the effect it has on you! That kind of power always has a price, didn't anyone ever teach you that?" Lulu breathed a sigh of relief. "I was- I mean, Yuna was worried about you. How are you feeling now?"

"Not all that great. Feels like the room's swaying, and I can smell salt really strong."

Lulu laughed quietly. "Don't worry, that's not your head. After you passed out, we had Wakka carry you back to the village after he'd finished a shouting match with a rival blitzball team. He put you up in the inn, one of the only buildings left standing, for the night and had a healer look over you. She couldn't find anything particularly wrong with you, besides the fact that you were long past exhaustion, so we let you rest up. Right now we're aboard the S.S. Winno, headed for Luca."

"Another boat? I hate boats," Naruto grumbled. He threw back the covers, leapt out of bed, and immediately regretted it as pain exploded in his calves and he swayed precariously before finally regaining his balance, a hand pressed firmly against the wall. "Okay, bad plan."

"For Yevon's sake, don't overexert yourself!" the black mage reprimanded him, resting a hand gently on his shoulder to steady him. "Honestly, if I wasn't here to mother you... you might want to head up to the deck. Yuna's up there with Kimahri, I'm sure she's been fretting over you. After that, Wakka's with the Aurochs in one of the cabins opposite here, he'd probably like to know you're okay... well, near enough." Lulu swept from the room and Naruto hurried after, headed for the top deck. Once there, he took a deep draught of salty sea air and stretched out his tired muscles in the bright sunlight.

"Naruto! You're alright!" A familiar voice cried as Yuna hurried over to him, Kimahri in tow. The young summoner patted down his shoulders and arms, as if trying to confirm that he was, in fact, in one piece, and smiled warmly. "I was worried, when you fell unconscious so suddenly..."

"C'mon, you think a little fatigue's gonna put me down? I'm way tougher than that!" Naruto exclaimed proudly, puffing out his chest. Yuna smiled again, just as Wakka chose that moment to interrupt the pair.

"Whoa, you're awake already? Brudda, you must be made o' steel or somethin'... Doesn't matter! Come with me!"

"What's the hurry, man?"

"That girl, the one you pulled from the Sinspawn! She's wakin' up!" Naruto's eyes grew wide, and the four hurried down into the cabin once more, where the Besaid Aurochs were all gathered around a single bed, being forcibly pushed away by a petite woman with olive-green hair and large, round glasses, dressed in a white lab coat. "Is she okay, doc?" The woman looked over at the question and frowned when she saw the orange-haired blitzer.

"Ah, Sir Wakka! Perhaps you will have better luck than I in getting these brutes, to maintain distance from the patient! They won't listen to a word I say!" She huffed and gave one last push against Keepa's chest before giving up altogether.

"Alright boys, you heard the woman! Back up already!" With Wakka's command the Aurochs immediately stepped back, and the doctor huffed again, sweeping a lock of hair out of her face with a slender hand.

"Many thanks. As for your question, she's stable, at least. Take a look for yourself." The doctor turned back to the girl who was sleeping silently, wrapped up in blankets on the bed. She had twisted in her sleep, and in doing so had wrapped the quilts tightly around in, burying herself in their warmth. Her ruby-red hair splayed out on the pillow behind her head almost angelically, and every so often she'd mutter in her sleep. Then, her eyes began to slowly flutter open. Wakka, Yuna and Naruto hurried to her bedside and watched her with interest and worry, as her emerald-green irises slowly drifted across the room, before finally settling on Naruto's face. Her eyelids snapped open, and she sat bolt upright in bed, rearing back a fist which she then slammed directly into Naruto's face. The blonde shot back, cradling his bleeding nose while the doctor tried to force the girl back down. "Don't move around too much, you don't want to cause any more damage!"

"How come you care more about her condition than mine! I'm a patient too!" Naruto asked, his voice muffled by the bloodied hand clasped over his face. The doctor scoffed and ignored him, forcibly holding the girl down as she struggled against her efforts.

"It's because except for being a little tired, there's nothing wrong with you! You're just being a whiny little brat!"

"Who the hell do you think you are, you- let go of me, Wakka! I wanna beat this bitch into oblivion!"

"You said it yourself, you're a patient! So siddown, and shut up! This is not the time!"

"Not the time? That girl punched me and now the doctor is insulting me!"

"I wouldn't have to insult you if you weren't being so stupid! You probably scared the poor girl with your ugly face!"

"Who the hell're you callin' ugly, lady!"

"You, of course! I thought that much was obvious!"

"I"M GONNA KILL YOU!"

"STOP!" Everybody froze. By this I mean literal freezing, rather than simple cessation of movement, as Lulu stormed into the room wielding her Blizzard spell with extreme prejudice. Gleaming crystals of ice blossomed on every surface as every inhabitant of the room was frozen in place, all but the red-haired girl. Lulu weaved a path through icy statues of blitzball players until she stood over the bed. "Are you alright? Can you speak?"

"Where am I?" The girl asked, her voice high-pitched and childish, which seemed strange given her appearance which matched that of someone in their late teens. She pulled the covers up to her chin and frantically looked about the room, eyes wide like a deer in headlights. "Who are you people?"

"Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you," Lulu soothed as she slowly thawed the frozen one by one. "Do you have a name?" The girl shook her head, and looked around again until her eyes fell on Naruto. Once again she leapt up, snarling viciously as she reared back a powerful fist, until she was held back by Lulu's hand on her wrist. Naruto tried to back away, but half of his body was still frozen and he was denied that luxury due to the unfortunate circumstance of having one leg adhered to the wooden floor. The dark-haired mage, on the other hand, examined the girl, who was still trying frantically to attack Naruto, carefully. "Hmm... it seems she becomes aggressive whenever she sees Naruto..."

"Oh, come ON!"

* * *

**And end! I kind of like this chapter simply because it gives a substantial explanation of just what happened to Konoha after Naruto's disappearance. It also starts to plot out the main story of this fic, along with adding a few plot twists. The fayth girl's apparent hatred of Naruto, for instance. The first original Soil Triad is shown, Belias from FF12, and the doctor character is added. I didn't really think about adding her before, but I think I kind of like her. She will probably have a part. I've designed her in such a way that she'll fit nicely into the new plot I've devised. So yeah, all in all I like this chapter. Hope you do too!**

**Review Corner:**  
**Mastergamer756: I kind of like your idea, but unfortunately I know absolutely nothing about either inFamous or Prototype, no matter how much I'd like to. I am PS3-less, you see. But I'd like to try it, if you gave me a few more hints towards a possible story. Help me out, please!**

**Chargone: Indeed I do know that you can go back to Baaj Temple to kill Geosgaeno. In fact, it's one of the prerequisites for acquiring Anima, Seymour's aeon. As for your earlier comment, don't look at me. The whole regeneration overload thing was only part of the challenge, so I went with it. I wouldn't normally use an excuse like that, I'd say something even sillier like it was Kami's divine will or something.**

**Uzumaki Crossover: Yeah... I needed someone to suit my purposes, and Itachi was dead and waiting. I realise it might be confusing, but so was FFX when you learned that *SPOILER*. This fic will be just as confusing for a while, if not more so, before the revelations can truly kick in. Right now, nobody knows anything except for me. BWAHAHAHA!**

**Prince of the Forgotten: True, all we've seen it do is tear off limbs. But we've never seen the inside of Kamui, so who knows what it does to the limbs **_**after **_**it tears them off? I am making stuff up to fit the purposes of my fic, but isn't that the definition of 'fanfiction'?**

**So yeah, hope this chap tides you over until next time. If any of you have any questions, ideas or suggestions, please, don't hesitate to PM me. Next chapter, of course, includes the blitzball tournament, Yuna's first abduction, and the introduction... of Seymour Guado. *shiver*. Slimy bastard gives me the creeps. Anyways, bless your face! If you sneezed during this chapter, bless you! Peace off! BOOP!**


	8. Chapter 8: Gimme More

**Chapter 8, Gimme More**

"_Ladies and gentlemen, the day we've all been waiting for! The opening tournament of the season! This event is sponsored by Yevon. And this year we celebrate Maester Mika's fiftieth year in office. Ah, over there! The ships carrying the players are arriving now! This would be dock 2. All the way from Kilika, it's the Kilika Beasts! High Summoner Ohalland used to play for them-a big name to live up to. Their hometown was recently attacked by Sin. Isn't that right, Jimma?"_

"_Yes, Bobba. They're going to be pulling out all the stops to try and bring back the cup this year."_

"_Exciting, isn't it, folks? Our next team off the ramp... well, well, well! If it isn't the Besaid Aurochs! They're a living, breathing, statistical impossibility! I've never seen a team this bad! That's right, in twenty-three years they've never made it past the first round! Only a few diehard fans are in the audience today." _

"_Best of luck to them, and a safe journey back to Besaid."_

"_Right, Jimma. Moving right along, our next team is... Here they are, folks! Our very own Luca Goers! They've got power! They've got speed! They've got teamwork! They're an all-around first-class team! And they're back home in Luca!"_

_"Without a doubt, they are the favourite this year, Bobba. And after the way they dominated last year, it'd take a miracle for them to lose today." _

"_You can say that again, Jimma. Look at the crowd, folks! Look at the crowd! Looks like all of Luca has turned out to cheer the Goers on! They know, I know, and you know, folks! The Luca Goers are number one!"_

"Don't let it get to ya," Wakka told Naruto as the latter gave a soft growl. "It's the same every year. Da Luca Goers are da ones everyone bets on, and da ones everyone cashes in on. 'Course a team like dat's gonna be celebrated more dan a third-rate team like us."

"That's not the point! We can't just sit here and take it! We're hiding from the crowd for blitz's sake!" True, Wakka had led the team away from the masses of the Beasts' and Goers' screaming fans, and into a part of the dock meant for transporting cargo. The team were seated on crates as they awaited Wakka's orders. "We look like complete pussies! We need to show those Goers what's what!"

"Dey know what's what, dat's part o' da problem! Dey know dey're better dan everyone else, and dey're not afraid to show it! If we start causing trouble, it's only gonna make dis harder for us. At least if we keep quiet 'til da game, dey might just go easy on us."

"You're honestly saying you'd rather lose to those guys, when they're _holding back, _than actually give this a damn good shot! My way, if we lose we can at least say we tried our very hardest and that we forced those Goers to play at their full power!" The Aurochs looked at him in confusion. "Yeah, I know I said we were gunning for victory, but I don't care anymore! All I wanna do is beat those Luca Goers into dust! If what you're saying about them being the best of the best is true, then they're essentially the same goal, right?" Naruto, turned toward the team, didn't notice Yuna, Lulu and Kimahri walking up behind him, watching his inspirational speech. "Sure, we wanna win, but proving to that bunch of condescending assholes that they're not king of the hill is more important! If we can kick their asses, think how easy it'll be for us to take the cup then!"

Wakka grinned and let out a louder-than-necessary laugh. "I like da way you think, blondie! We been pitted against the Goers in da first round every year for da last three years, and now it's payback time! We gonna put our foot so far up deir asses, dey gonna be picking shoelaces outta deir teeth for a week, ya?" The team cheered in unison, and, with Wakka in the lead, sprinted off toward the stadium. Naruto watched them go, then finally noticed the two women and one Ronso that had watched his motivational speech with interest.

"Oh, hey... how long have you guys been there?"

"A while. That was quite... moving," Yuna said, stifling a chuckle with her hand.

"Putting people down like they do... they're as bad as my old man!" Naruto said angrily, shocking Yuna.

"How can you say that? Sir Jecht was a kind and gentle man!" she cried indignantly. Naruto huffed and crossed his arms, frowning.

"Well, not my Jecht," he finished, following after Wakka without another word. Yuna stuttered helplessly and shot a pleading look at Lulu, who shrugged, shaking her head. The pair walked quickly to catch up with Naruto and Wakka, who had stopped at one of the other docks. "So who actually is this geezer?" the blonde asked Wakka, who stood beside him. The blitz captain looked at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"You kiddin' me, brudda! Dat's Maester Mika!"

"Who?"

"Maester Mika has been the scion of Yevon for fifty years now. With Yevon's power and resources, he essentially rules Spira from his residence at the holy city of Bevelle," Lulu spoke knowledgably. Naruto nodded, but then his eyes drifted to the taller man that stood before Mika.

"So who's that?"

"Could that be... Maester Seymour?" Yuna asked quietly, almost jumping to see over the crowd. The group watched as Seymour knelt and prayed, as did everyone else.

"People of Spira, I thank you for your generous welcome. Rise, Maester Seymour," Mika addressed his underling, who slowly rose from his lowered position and stood almost twice the height of the aged maester before him, "And all of you as well. I present to you the son of Maester Jyscal Guado, who departed for the Farplane a fortnight past. As some of you may already know, he has been officially ordained as a maester of Yevon."

"I am Seymour Guado. I am honored to receive the title of maester. In life, my father Jyscal worked to foster friendship between man and Guado. I vow to carry on his legacy, and to fulfill my duties as maester to the best of my abilities." The crowd as one bowed their heads, including Naruto after Wakka elbowed him in the ribs, and the two maesters walked onwards toward the stadium. After the procession had passed, the crowd dissipated, and Wakka gave a wide grin.

"Really psyches ya up, don't it?" he asked the blonde, who shrugged, still staring after the maesters. "Something on your mind?"

"I don't know..." the teen said quietly, raising a hand to his chin in thought. "Something about the guy seems off, just can't put my finger on it. Bah, s'probably nothing."

* * *

Naruto's sword cut through yet another spindly mass of sickly green scales as it swam frantically away from the swathe of death he'd cut through the school of Sahagins that had invaded the blitz sphere. The aquatic fiend exploded into the now-familiar orbs of pure white spewing rainbow light that floated off into the sky, just as Wakka's spiked blitzball shot past his head and halted another's attack aimed for the blonde's head. Naruto sent a thumbs-up in the blitzer's direction, but rather than the cocky grin he'd expected he was greeted with a look of concern aimed at the stand above them. Naruto followed his eye line with his own, and saw Yuna struggling to hold off a swarm of Ahrimans with her new aeon, Ifrit. The hellish summon's fiery blasts were devastating to the leathery fiends, but their sheer numbers were beginning to overwhelm him. Kimahri and Lulu were both preoccupied fighting their own battles, wielding halberd and black magic with extreme prejudice. He watched as a Blizzard spell reflected harmlessly off of a Vouivre's thick, armoured skin, the creature itself pushing past Kimahri with a vicious swipe of its claws and leaping at Yuna on powerful, muscle-bound legs. Her mismatched eyes widened in fear as thick, obsidian claws descended upon her with a primal roar, and Naruto broke free of his watery prison, feet charged with chakra ready to push off the sphere's surface, when the reptilian fiend suddenly split in two and burst into pyreflies.

The wide, curved blade, forged for cleaving armour, flesh and bone alike, and flash of scarlet cloth whipping around tanned muscle in the wind was more than enough to identify the culprit, one muscular arm lifting the steel cleaver onto his shoulder, while the other hung uselessly, nestled in a makeshift sling. From behind his trademark glasses, steely grey eyes watched the advancing fiends with a dangerous glint. One pounced on him, baring tooth and claw as it screeched a terrible war cry. In an instant, it and three more were bifurcated just as easily as their predecessor, if not more so. The swordsman returned his sword to its resting place, smirking darkly as the remaining fiends looked hesitant to approach this man who slaughtered their comrades with such ease and finesse. One turned to run, and immediately found itself skewered and launched towards another. The two tumbled off the balcony and fell, screaming, into the darkened pit below.

"Auron!" The dark-haired swordsman hefted his blade onto his shoulder and kicked another fiend, paralyzed with fear, away from him, before turning to the blonde as his feet touched down on the balcony's rail. He smirked as the teen dropped to the stone floor, a bright grin tugging at his whiskered cheeks as he sheathed his blade. "I've been lookin' all over for you!"

"You obviously haven't been looking very hard," Auron joked, with the deep grunt of a laugh sounding from his throat as he stepped over to Yuna, Naruto in tow. "You're late. I've been in Luca for about a week now."

"Yeah... there were a few... technical difficulties," Naruto replied nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Were you waiting for me or something?"

"Don't flatter yourself. The fact that you're here just makes my job that much easier. Come on, this chapter in your story isn't over." Auron began to walk away as Lulu took up a position at Yuna's side, Kimahri and Naruto falling into place at the swordsman's flanks. Each readied their weapon and charged into the fray, slicing at whatever fiend dared to attack them. Bolts of white lightning burst from Naruto's outstretched hand, tearing a Condor from the sky, and Auron's thick katana cleaved through the thick armour of a Raldo as it charged at the blonde. He took a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow.

"How many of these things are there? I don't think I've fought so many monsters in my life!" He exclaimed, dodging a swipe from an Evil Eye as it flew into the path of a vicious jab from Kimahri's lance. Auron scoffed as he swung his blade in a wide arc, beheading three more fiends in one fell swoop.

"What does it matter to you? A guardian should be prepared to protect their summoner from anything that might harm them," he growled, sending a sidelong glance in the blonde's direction. Naruto looked back at Yuna, clutching her staff as if it were her last lifeline, and frowned.

"Yeah, I got it." His hand strayed to the Magun, strapped to his leg, the free limb disappearing within the depths of the strange golden cylinder as its form shimmered and rippled once more. Within an instant it stood proudly in its thawed state, its black heart beating furiously as Naruto levelled his scowl on the unwavering tide of fiends before him. His finger twitched on the gleaming trigger. "I don't quite know what'll happen if I try to use a summon a second time, but... **BISMARCK!" **The Magun fired, and, just as it had done the first time, three trails of light burst from its barrels, though they moved much faster than before, and collided with an almighty torrent of rushing water as a veritable tsunami flowed forth from the point where the three lights met. Riding the wave was the White Whale, Bismarck, its crimson eyes glinting as it whined deeply, spurring forth the unending current as it tore across the balcony and swept up the many hundreds of fiends in one fell swoop, either crushing them under incredible pressure or washing them over the ledge's side into the darkened abyss below.

"Rather impressive. You've gotten stronger since we last saw each other," Auron admitted with a small smile.

"You know it!" Naruto said with a grin, before collapsing to his knees with a pained scream as a terrible screech pervaded the stadium. His body shook as he winced in agony, Yuna hurrying to his body in worry and casting copious amounts of white magic on his fallen form, but to no avail. Then, all of a sudden, a wave of golden energy washed over them all, flowing through the arena and tearing the fiends apart on a molecular level as it crept into every corner of the stadium. The group looked up at the Maester's box to see Seymour atop it, a monstrous creature beside him, towering over all. Large, shell-like fins rose on either side of its emaciated form, dark, scaly skin pulled taut over its bones and wrapped in thick chains. Its arms were trapped against its body by its bonds, crossed over its chest yet revealing a small charm tied around its neck. Its head, wrapped mostly in greying bandages, shook wildly as the golden light gathered in its uncovered left eye and released with the sound of metal clashing with metal, ripping the fiends apart into a sea of pyreflies, flowing through the stadium. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the aeon was gone, disappearing in a cloud of darkness, and Naruto stopped shaking, his body falling still. Bismarck hovered over him as Yuna's hands lit up with the brilliant white glow of a Cure, his eyes slowly creaking open as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"Wh... what the frick was that?" he asked shakily, as the soothing warmth of Yuna's white magic flowed through his body and gently quelled the searing pain. Auron's steely eyes moved from the downed blonde to the Maesters' private box, replacing his sword on his back.

"Seymour's aeon... it's rare for anything, barring Sin of course, to be that powerful. No wonder he became a Maester so soon after his father's death. I wonder... why did it affect you as it did?" None had the opportunity to answer as a shriek tore at their eardrums. All gathered turned to see Bismarck ripped in two, fading into pyreflies to give way for the spindly, insectoid limbs of a monstrous Epaaj. Its armoured skin, tinted purple as it gleamed with the reflection of both the sun's radiant light and the white glow of Yuna's spell, shifted with a grating screech as it leapt for the group. Each readied weapons, sans Lulu who brought her hands together for a Thunder spell, but the speed at which the powerful fiend travelled was far too great and it hurtled past each of them, claws brought forward to spear its unfortunate target, the injured Naruto.

* * *

_Drip, drip._

Naruto sat up, clutching at his chest as his body heaved with laboured breaths. His heart beat pounded relentlessly against his ribcage, and his entire body still ached with the lingering pain of Anima's assault. Still, the cool water beneath him did something to soothe the burning in his muscles, if only slightly. That was, of course, until it took on a scarlet glow and heated rapidly to the point that it burned his skin.

"Ah, ah, ah! Hot! What the...!" He leapt out of the shin-deep water and used his chakra to settle calmly atop it, his sandals protecting the soles of his feet from the scalding liquid, sapphire blue eyes scanning the darkness. "K-Kyuubi?" He hadn't meant for his voice to sound quite so timid, but it was hard to maintain any sort of composure when the fear of impending and excruciating doom at the hand of a teenage demon queen hung over him. Slitted eyes, tiny pinpricks of searing scarlet that smouldered like hot coals as they fixed on him, flashed in the gloom of the Kyuubi's cage, and Naruto, despite all his power, was at a loss to move. So, in the horrible situation he found himself caught in, his opponent had the upper hand. The lights grew closer and closer as the torrent of killing intent washed over him, the dim light of his mindscape slowly reaching her lithe form as she stepped up to the thick, golden bars of her prison. There, looking equally as splendid as she had in their first, _true _meeting, if not more so, stood the strongest of the nine bijuu in all her glory, and Naruto would have been as awestruck as he had back then were it not for the anger that burned in her eyes as she slowly and deliberately stepped over to him like a predator stalking its prey. As she brought herself to her full, if unimpressive, height, looming over his kneeling form as he fearfully kept her gaze, her arms crossed under her bosom, Naruto smiled nervously. "H-Hey... Kyuubi-chan..."

"That's it, huh?" Naruto winced. He supposed he'd deserved something like this. After all, they'd been the closest of partners and friends for all of seventeen years, then all of a sudden he forgets about her in favour of his forays into the world of Spira. Still, there was that tiny, irritating voice that screamed 'I don't deserve this!' The same voice he wished would shut the hell up. "I'm willing to overlook the lack of attention you've given me over the past few days." Wait, what? Naruto looked up, confused, but Kyuubi's still present rage sent his head back down. If that wasn't what she was mad about, then what? "What I'm really annoyed by is the fact that somehow, you caused _that _and didn't even give an explanation!" _That? _What was _that?_

"Weeeuuuurrrrrghhh!" An unintelligible, yet strangely calming bellow echoed throughout the sewers that made up his mindscape, followed by the sound of rushing water and the all-encompassing mass of pure white that passed through the tunnel by the prison's entrance, an orb of pure scarlet and a wide fin protruding from its side. A series of loud splashes pursued it, and a bright orange light lit the gloom of the tunnel as a large, humanoid creature wielding a strange axe-like weapon chased the first object, roaring loudly.

"Halt! In the name of the Gigas, I shall smite thee down, foul beast!" Belias' voice boomed as it ran after the panicked Bismarck, causing Kyuubi's eye to twitch irritably.

"_That _is precisely what I meant! Those two have been up to the same thing for _days!"_ Kyuubi gave a low, dangerous growl. "It's taking all my willpower not to tear them, and you, to shreds." As if testament to her struggle, her fingertips ignited with orange flames, flickering wildly despite the absence of any kind of wind. "What the hell are they, anyway?"

"It's kinda hard to explain," Naruto allowed, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I guess they're like my toad summons, but they've got different powers, and they're obviously not toads. I have to use the Magun to bring them out..." he trailed off, as he realised, hand patting down the side of his leg frantically, that the aforementioned weapon was nowhere to be found. Kyuubi grinned darkly as she raised a hand, the other still held firmly under her bosom, carrying the gleaming golden cylinder that was the Magun in its 'frozen' state.

"You mean this? It's kinda funny, you being a shinobi and all yet you can't even stop a simple pickpocket."

"I don't generally tend to get my pockets picked when I'm inside my own _head." _

"Touché." She raised the cylinder and, with a flash of scarlet, it morphed, not into the quickly becoming familiar form he used to summon the likes of Bismarck and Belias, but into something new altogether. It appeared to be some form of flintlock pistol, its curved handle and tapering barrel testament to that, though it retained the triple-barrel feature of the Magun's thawed state. Rather than the blocky, golden weapon with its black, beating heart, this was thinner and more streamlined, the golden, circular barrels encased with the gaping maw of a roaring fox, its teeth gripping the smooth metal as if it were alive. The eyes lit up an angry red as its tails seemed to coil around the handle, which Kyuubi gripped as she raised it to Naruto's head. "This must be another first for you."

"That it is. Nice gun, by the way. How'd you do that?"

"You mean you didn't know?" Kyuubi laughed, a deep, rich, mocking laugh that echoed off the stone walls. Naruto shivered. "My powers can alter objects when my chakra is pushed into them, like this." She held the pistol to the light, allowing the dim brightness to glint off its golden surface. "You should pay more attention to me, Naruto-kun. It may just save your life." She tossed the gun through the air, where Naruto fumbled to catch it, hissing as the smooth metal, still hot from the presence of Kyuubi's chakra, burned his calloused palms. Naruto looked back up at his tenant, who smirked seductively, and drew closer, pressing her full red lips to his. His eyes widened in surprise, but before he could get into the kiss she pulled away, blushing lightly despite herself. "J-Just... just don't forget me." Naruto couldn't help but smile warmly. For someone of such power, when she showed her 'deredere' side, she could be simply _too cute._ And then, darkness.

* * *

Back to the real world, then, Naruto mused, as time slowly began to resume. The Magun, still in his hand from Bismarck's summoning, quickly morphed into the lighter form of Kyuubi's pistol in a rush of flame. He raised the weapon and lined it up with the Epaaj's head, its jaws opening in a scream as it descended upon its prey with long, spear-like claws, his finger slowly squeezing the trigger...

It felt as if the weapon had exploded in his hand. The gun kicked back into his palm, and he winced from the pain of the incredible force, pushing back into his shoulder. On the other end, however, the three barrels burst into flame as a sphere of crimson leapt from each and collided with the armoured flesh of the powerful fiend, the spindly creature eliciting a pained shriek as its flesh was quickly eaten away by the unbearable heat, incinerating almost instantly and turning to ashes that fell harmlessly to the ground.

To the others, however, it was little more than a blur, as Naruto's arm shot out and all of a sudden, the monster was toastied. All that marked the creature's existence in the first place were the scattered ashes and the remnants of the beast's screams carrying on the wind. All five blinked, even Auron. What just happened? Naruto pulled himself to his feet, dusting the Epaaj's remains from his clothes as the pistol flowed back into its cylindrical form and returned to its holster on his thigh. They stared at him as he stretched languidly, seemingly unaffected by anything that had happened up to this point. Even when Naruto returned the confused gaze, arms crossed behind his head, their bewilderment never faltered.

"What's up? Y'all look like you've seen a ghost or something."

Wakka gave up. "I give up! Dere's just no point 'n tryin' to understand anythin' around you, ya?" He stormed off, leaving the others to stare after him.

* * *

"Got anything to say for yourself?" Auron raised an eyebrow, and took a step toward the dock's edge, staring out over the seas. "Don't ignore me, Auron. I'm not demanding anything, but I think I deserve a few answers." Auron let out a small laugh.

"A few answers, you say?" He gave Naruto a sidelong glance, exposing a corner of his knowing smirk. "You always were a little odd. Any normal person would've tried to force me into giving the full truth, myself included. So what is it about you that would cause you to settle for such a small price?"

"I'm generous," Naruto replied with a sarcastic tone, crossing his arms. "Now tell me. You knew my old man, right?" Auron eyed Naruto for a moment, as if choosing how to answer.

"Yeah."

"And you also knew Yuna's father?"

"Also correct. Are you going somewhere with this?"

"I just..." Naruto trailed off, gazing with no small amount of irritation at the green dots on the horizon he knew were islands like Besaid and Kilika. "I guess I fail to see how that's even possible. Zanarkand is gone, isn't it? Has been for a thousand years. So how did you manage to bypass that little detail?"

"There's... nothing impossible about it. Jecht and I... we were the guardians of High Summoner Braska, Yuna's father. Together, we defeated Sin around ten years ago. Then I went to Zanarkand to watch over you, so that I could one day bring you to Spira. You have Jecht to thank for that, too. All of this was a favour to him." Naruto's fingers clenched into fists, and his eyes screwed shut as images of the man he begrudgingly called a father flashed before him, brilliant white teeth shining from an arrogant smirk as he crossed his thick arms over his chest.

"I don't think I wanna thank him for anything..." Naruto shot Auron a demanding glare from the corner of his eye. "So where is he? Is he alive or dead?"

"That depends on what you define as 'alive'. He's... no longer human. But then, neither are you." Naruto hissed angrily. He didn't know _how _Auron knew so much about him, even having watched over him for the majority of his new life, but regardless of the manner he would not have him jeopardise the loose friendships he'd already built up in this world by revealing secrets like _that. _Auron heard the sharp intake of air, and let out a deep grunt of a laugh. "Then again, I did feel something of him in that shell, couldn't you? You must have felt him... when you came into contact with Sin."

Naruto's eyes grew wide in shock, and his mouth fell open with a gasp. He thought back to those fateful encounters with the whale-like beast, those few battles like none he'd ever faced. He didn't know _what _he felt in those moments. It was a battle, for Yevon's sake! His mind was focused solely on fighting and winning! And yet, Auron's words had a truthful ring to them, for now when he thought back on Sin, he felt _familiarity. _That didn't mean he wanted to believe the old swordsman, however. "That's just... just impossible!" Naruto barked, throwing his arms out behind him. "I've seen what Sin is, and what it does! Sin is a monster, a beast that has no regard for human life whatsoever! All it does is destroy, destroy and destroy! There is no way in hell that _Sin _has any shred of humanity, especially not my old man, so you better come up with a better explanation than that!"

Auron grunted and turned to walk away. "Believe what you want to believe, but what I tell you is the truth. What is, is, and Sin _is _Jecht. There's no two ways about that. And whether you believe me now or not, soon enough you'll realise that I'm right. When you meet Sin, at the end of your journey." Naruto didn't answer. He didn't know what to say to counter that, not when he knew Auron was right. Auron passed him silently, then stopped at the base of the pier. "Come with me."

"And if I refuse?" Naruto spat.

"Every story must have an ending."

"Ugh, I don't give a damn about your bedtime stories!" Auron appeared to be taken aback for a moment, but adjusted his sunglasses and turned to look at Naruto.

"I see. Sorry you feel that way." He continued walking. "Come or don't come," he called over his shoulder, "It's your decision."

"'Decision' my ass. I don't have a choice in the matter. You're the only one who knows what the hell's going on here, so if I don't go with you I'm stuck up shit creek without a paddle."

"Irritating, I know. Or are you afraid?" Naruto cast his eyes groundward, and Auron's features softened ever so slightly. "It's alright to be afraid. You're trapped in a world not your own, with creatures and beings you don't know how to react to. You have secrets you don't want anyone to discover, and all you want is to find out what the hell's going on and go home. And the only person who actually _does _know what's happening and could possibly get you home is an evasive asshole. That would be me."

"Don't sugar-coat it, why don't you..." Naruto groaned sarcastically. A hand suddenly planting itself on his shoulder unbalanced him, and very nearly bowled him over, before Auron pulled him around to look him in the eye.

"I'm going to offer my services to Yuna as a guardian, and you're coming with me."

* * *

"D'you think he's gonna stay here?" Lulu crossed her arms over her stomach, her moogle held tightly in her embrace, and shook her head. She didn't mean to, of course, but she knew Naruto well enough, despite the small time they'd spent together, to know that he wouldn't give up now just because he'd found someone he knew. Not when there were so many questions left to answer.

"I don't think he has the capacity to stay in one place too long," she answered, with an amused smirk. Wakka sighed and leant back against the railing, crossing his arms behind his head leisurely.

"I'm gonna miss havin' him around, dat's for sure. Kid's a nuisance, but he's fun to watch, y'know?" A small hum tore her attention from the now ex-blitzer and to her charge, staring at the paved street below as her hands fidgeted uncomfortably. Both guardians looked at her with no small amount of concern in their eyes. "You alright, Yuna?"

"Do... do you really think he'll leave?" Lulu's features softened, and she gave the brunette an apologetic smile.

"He was never properly with us. He never truly became a guardian after all, and there was always the chance he'd just up and leave." The mage's voice was soft and, despite her best efforts, a little shaky. She'd admit that Naruto was fun to have around, if only as comic relief, and was a skilled warrior like none she'd ever seen. Besides that, it was nice to have some link to the older blonde that had stolen her own heart all those years ago, and whose bright and cheerful personality lived on in his son. She would be lying horribly if she even tried saying she wanted him gone. "You shouldn't dwell too much on it. He'll stay with Sir Auron, and we'll continue on without him, just as we would if we'd never met him- what are you _doing, _Wakka!" Lulu scowled at the man, who appeared to be acting strangely. He was leaning far too far over the edge of the railing, craning his neck as if to look around the mage at something behind her.

"Uhh... dat's gonna be pretty hard, ya?" Her eyebrow quirked, and in response Wakka simply pointed over her shoulder. The thud of rubber-soled boots against the paved street and the rhythmic clink of shifting metal met her ears, and she turned to see the large, crimson-clad frame of Auron slowly step towards her, one arm hanging limply in the fold of his coat while the other swayed with each step. And just behind him, hands forced into his pockets as he glared at the ground so hard it might have burst into flames, slowly walked the very blonde her thoughts had been fixated upon, though he was definitely not his usual happy-go-lucky self. Every muscle was tensed up and trembling, and she could tell he was barely restraining himself from lashing out at anything that came near.

"S-Sir Auron!" Yuna exclaimed in surprise, and the scarred swordsman's steely gaze levelled upon her.

"Yuna," he began harshly, forcing a flinch out of the summoner. "I wish to become your guardian. Do you accept?" Lulu stared incredulously at the legendary warrior stood before her, asking her charge for the chance to protect her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Her eyes drifted to the blonde behind Auron, who was leant on the railing, staring out over the bustling streets of Luca. She'd said it herself: he would most likely stay with Sir Auron, he being the only one with a hope of answering Naruto's questions. If Auron were to become Yuna's guardian, Naruto would undoubtedly come along. She felt equally happy and sad at that thought. Happy, that the blonde would indeed be joining them for at least another leg of their journey, and yet at the same time sad that it was only because of Auron's whim.

"Whoa... you serious?" Wakka questioned the elder guardian incredulously, only to flinch and splutter when the man's narrowed glare fell upon him.

"Is that a refusal?" he asked tersely, the fingers of the hand cradled within his coat clenching into a fist. Wakka blanched and fell silent, averting his eyes in embarrassment.

"No, no, we accept!" Yuna agreed heartily, her voice shaky and uneasy. "R-Right, everyone?" She looked to her guardians for reassurance. Lulu tore her attention from the blonde to see Auron scrutinising the three of them, herself, Wakka, and Kimahri, as he waited for an answer. Her mouth hung open wordlessly as she racked her brain for a sensible answer, even though there was of course only one.

"W-We would be honoured, but... why?" Auron seemed to stop for a minute, and his ever-present scowl deepened, casting dark lines into his rugged, tanned features.

"I made a promise... to Braska." Yuna's eyes widened ever so slightly at the mention of her father, but more so when Auron continued. "The same promise I made to Jecht. I'll join you on your pilgrimage, on the condition that he," he gripped Naruto's shoulder firmly in a huge, gloved hand and wrenched him forward, leaving him to stumble before Yuna and her guardians, "Comes along too. He doesn't exactly need my help to stay alive, tenacious little bastard he is, but I won't ever go back on a promise." Yuna struggled to find her words for a moment, looking between the hulking swordsman and his blonde charge with no small amount of confusion. Why did Naruto seem so angry, as he glared at Luca's skyline, ramming his sandal into the paving stones as if he hoped they might break? She would've thought he'd be happier, having found someone he remembers in Spira. She shook her head; whatever it was, it was certainly none of her business.

"We would be doubly honoured to have you both join us. Your skills would be greatly appreciated." Naruto looked up and stared blankly at her, even as Auron gave a short, mocking bark of a laugh.

"The kid has a fan club, huh? A lot happens when you go away for a few days, I guess..." he drawled, smirking knowingly at the brunette summoner, who blushed furiously under his gaze and looked away to the side. Lulu and Wakka afforded a hearty laugh at the embarrassed teen's expense, until Auron pulled them away from the group and began to speak in hushed tones. Yuna sighed and moved toward Naruto, looking out over the city at his side.

"Something on your mind?" He appeared to jump slightly at the sound of her voice, as if he hadn't noticed her and her presence had startled him. He turned to look at her and attempted to form words for a moment, before giving up with an irritated hiss and turning back to the city. "Whatever it is, it can't hurt to talk about it, can it? A burden shared is a burden divided, after all."

"I just had a nasty shock is all, nothing to worry your pretty little head about." Yuna blushed at his words, but would not be deterred. Something was bothering him, something major, and she would help him if it was the last thing she did.

"Why won't you let me help you? I just want to know what's on your mind, so I can at least try to make you feel better." Her feet shifted awkwardly against the pavestones, and her fingers fiddled with each other nervously. "...t-that's what friends are for, isn't it?" Naruto's mouth hung open in surprise, before it twisted to a grin, not quite his usual lopsided smile that radiated pure warmth and happiness in every facet of its existence, but something closer. It was a start, at least.

"Friends, huh?" He laughed, and Yuna couldn't help but smile herself at the sight of his cheer slowly returning to him. "I think I'd like that. It'd be nice to have a friend right now. I'll be counting on you."

"And I you!" Yuna said warmly, smiling happily as she clapped her hands together in newfound enthusiasm. She'd succeeded, at least partially, in her self-given mission of cheering up Naruto, and made a good friend in the process. She and Naruto were friends; that meant that he would give anything for her, just as she would for him, and they could count on each other when times got rough, which they were bound to do in this pilgrimage. So why did her heart ache at the thought of Naruto being her 'friend'?

* * *

**Sorry this chapter took a really long time to come out. I had problems finding the words, and between that and the hectic stuff that's been happening what with finishing up my school coursework and sorting out my courses for college I just haven't been able to write anything. Still, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, 'cause a lot of work went into it. So now Auron's joined and Naruto's re-joined, the SS can finally head on down the Highroad. Mushroom Rock Road and Operation Mi'ihen aren't far off, people, but before even that I have something in the works to get Naruto a new weapon that will either replace or more likely be used alongside the wakizashi. I mentioned it earlier in a response to a review that Naruto would get a new weapon, and a lot of you probably thought I was referring to the Magun, or now, its Kyuubi form. Nope, he won't get that till at least next chapter. So, with that out of the way, I bid you good day and good night!**


	9. Chapter 9: Back In Black

**Chapter 9, Back In Black**

Naruto groaned.

There wasn't much reason for him to be upset at all; he'd pretty much gotten over the whole Sin/Jecht thing, choosing instead to deal with it when the time came rather than worry uselessly about it now. The sun threw its golden rays down upon the Mi'ihen Highroad, the sounds of birds chirping over the soft rustle of the cool breeze through the tall grass on the side of the road filled the air, and all in all the world seemed at peace for this one moment.

"Stop that groaning, will you? You're gonna give me a headache."

_There _was his problem. The small but nonetheless aggressive olive-haired female that had all but demanded to come along, bringing her timid redheaded charge along with her. Naruto glared in the direction of the bespectacled young woman and stuck out his tongue childishly.

"Whatcha gonna do, Doc?"

"I told you to stop calling me that!"

"Then tell me your real name, dammit!"

"I don't want to!"

"Stop it, both of you!" The new voice's harsh order was punctuated by a bolt of white light slamming into the ground at their feet, long, knife-like shards of ice blossoming from the point of impact into a glittering bouquet of sub-zero temperatures. "This is going to be a long pilgrimage, and if I have to spend the entire time listening to you two _children _arguing I can't be held responsible for what I'll do to you! There's an inn not far ahead, where we'll be staying for the night, and if you can't work out your difficulties by then, we'll leave you both behind!" Lulu knew her threat was empty, but that didn't stop her from making it. Auron had forced Naruto along, so she couldn't really leave him behind if she wanted to. The doctor, who Naruto had taken to simply calling Doc when she'd refused to tell him her name, also couldn't be left behind any more than you could tell a bird to leave you alone. She wasn't truly travelling _with _them, simply tagging along so that she could study the reactions of the redheaded girl when in the presence of the blonde. Of course, the mage suspected that was partially to see the shinobi get his ass kicked by a girl.

"I think it's nice." Lulu stopped and stared at Yuna, who was smiling serenely at the pair's antics. "It's never boring when they're around. It's always as lively as can be. After all, I want this pilgrimage to... to be full of laughter." Lulu could help but smile as well.

"I guess that's true. But really, this is just childish."

"I think that's one of their best qualities." Lulu shook her head and kept walking. No matter how she tried, no matter how well she thought she knew the summoner, she could never really understand what went on in her head. Don't get me wrong, she could predict her course of actions a majority of the time, but there were always those little thoughts that Yuna came out with that just made you want to check if she was actually sane. Then, she noticed how quiet it was, and looked back. Naruto and Doc had, miraculously, stopped arguing, and were walking in silence, neither paying a glance in the other's direction. She sighed with relief and held her throbbing temple, hoping that now her headache would finally recede.

"So where is it we're headed next, exactly?" Naruto piped up, stretching out with a tired groan.

"Ultimately our next goal is the temple at Djose, so that Yuna can pray to acquire her next aeon. But as I said before, we'll stop to rest for the night before we head off to the Mushroom Rock Road. There's a travel agency up ahead, run by an Al Bhed named Rin." No one missed the incredibly noticeable grunt from Wakka at the words 'Al Bhed'. Still, no one bothered to call him out on it and ignored it spectacularly. To be fair, it was particularly easy, especially when a group of armoured individuals on large, yellow birds with short stumpy wings and long, powerful legs raced past them with a gust of wind and a call of "Waark!" Following them, a group of people armed with various weapons and armour strapped to their bodies panted heavily as they struggled to keep up with the agile birds.

"What was that about? They sure seem like they're in a hurry," Naruto noted. Auron gave an amused grunt.

"If memory serves, there's supposed to be some kind of competition around this time for anyone who wants to join. The fields around the Mi'ihen Highroad are filled with fiends of all shapes and sizes, so every four months the Crusaders set up an event for members of the public to hunt fiends in the grass. Each sub-species of fiend is given a ranking, so that if a contestant defeats a fiend of that type they'll receive a set number of points. The person with the most points at the end of the competition is the winner, and gets to choose a prize from their selection."

"If you ask me, it's just another way for the Crusaders to shrug off their workload." Surprisingly, this sharp comment came from Doc, glaring spitefully at the armoured soldiers as they sped off into the distance. "If they get the public hunting fiends like this, they don't have to work so hard to keep the Highroad safe, you see? Just another example of Yevon's incompetence." If Doc noticed the glares shot her way, she certainly didn't show it.

"You got a problem with Yevon, ya?" Wakka grunted, only for Doc to scoff.

"Well, they've failed pretty magnificently in the past, haven't they? If this Yevon you all preach about is so omnipotent, surely he'd just kill Sin and be done with it all."

"But Sin is our punishment for past transgressions, and only through it can we truly atone for our actions!" Yuna shot back indignantly. Doc set a gaze upon the brunette that caused her to visibly shiver. It was full of hatred and pain that bubbled up inside until it would eventually burst.

"Your actions...?" She began, her voice quiet yet no less cold and unforgiving than before. "...Or the actions of those who came before you?" Yuna stuttered helplessly. "Yevon, the spiteful old bastard, can't be all that great if he'll leave his followers to suffer for something that wasn't even their doing." Everyone fell silent. The air felt heavy and stifling as the awkward silence wrapped around them like a thick glue. Naruto laughed nervously, having next to no idea just what was going on, and pointed to the fore of the group.

"C-C'mon now, guys! The travel agency's just there, so let's go in and get a couple of rooms, forget this whole mess, shall we?" Doc sighed, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I guess I'll let it be."She stepped forward and grabbed Naruto's arm with one hand, dragging him along with her. "C'mon, you're paying, blondie."

"Wait, what!? I didn't agree to that!"

"I never said you did, but you're doin' it anyway!" The group watched as Doc and Naruto vanished into the small, round building that was the travel agency, decorated with brightly coloured paints that seemed the norm for anything built or made by the Al Bhed. Wakka turned to Lulu, his voice hushed.

"Hey, you think she got something against Yevon?" Lulu groaned and cradled her forehead in her right hand.

"I had thought that much was obvious. Whatever grudge she holds is none of our business, and we can only hope that won't matter much when we reach Djose Temple, else we'll have problems."

* * *

"Welcome, one and all, to the Triannual Mi'ihen Commemorative Fiend Hunt! All contestants, please report to the competition director to receive your instructions! The hunt will begin in ten minutes!"

"I can't believe you're actually entering this," Doc said with an exhausted sigh. "Who do you think'll have to patch you up when you get your ass handed to you on a silver platter? This hunt is no laughing matter; when they say these fields are teeming with fiends they're really not joking, and each one is able and willing to rip your goddamn head off if you come within ten feet."

"I'll be fine, trust me. I have a few tricks up my sleeves too." Naruto's confident grin morphed into a mischievous smirk. "It's heart-warming to see you so worried about me, thou- _ow!" _Naruto interrupted himself with a sharp cry as Doc's fist collided with his head. The olive-haired woman scoffed and crossed her arms, turning away ever so slightly.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, playboy. I just don't want any unnecessary work on account of you running headfirst into trouble again." She sighed again. "Well, I guess there's no changing your mind once it's made its decision. Just remember that next time I'll start charging for patch-ups."

"So cold... isn't it your _duty _or something to help the wounded?"

"I can only help those who choose to help themselves. Rushing into a den of monsters is not helping."

"You're Uzumaki Naruto?" Both pairs of eyes turned to meet a rather rotund man, garbed head to toe in garish, extravagant clothing in various bright and eye-catching colours. Large, warm brown eyes eyed him appreciatively under thinning silver hair, and he rubbed his chin with a large, pudgy hand. "You're younger than I had expected, but I suppose nowadays the youth are more and more concerned about learning to protect themselves. I suppose you might be entertaining to watch."

"Should I know you?" Naruto asked tentatively, not knowing in the slightest who the man in front of him was. The man let out a hearty, booming laugh, and handed him a small business card.

"I don't see how you could," he admitted, then gestured to the card between Naruto's fingers. "My name is Gauchief. I'm a... well, I suppose you could call me an entrepreneur. Right now I'm looking for a few promising candidates for sponsorship. People who would be willing to let me ride on the wake of their fame as I help to nurture it. I couldn't help but overhear the conversation you were having with your lovely lady friend over here," he ignored the soundless retching motions Doc was making behind Naruto's back, "and wondered; would you perhaps be a veteran swordsman? What I mean to say is, are you familiar with dispatching fiends?"

"I guess you could say that. I look after myself, if that's what ya mean. And if I gotta use Aoshiira," he rested a hand on the sword's hilt affectionately, "to do that, then so be it. I've had my fair share of battles, and I'm pretty confident about this competition."

"Ah, that's what I like to hear!" Gauchief exclaimed happily. "I like to find someone who's confident in their abilities and has the power to back it up." He leaned in, cupping a hand around his mouth as he began to whisper. "Between you and me, half the people here are cocky kids who are just walking to their deaths. However, if you and me work together a little, you just might make it through this and be on your road to riches. So, whaddaya say?"

"Wh-What exactly are you asking me?" Naruto asked shakily, ignorant of Doc, who was shaking her head in exasperation.

"I'm asking if you'd allow me to become... a manager, of sorts. I'll organise everything for you, and get you your fame and fortune, and all you have to do is start chopping when they press the buzzer. Sounds like a pretty good deal, riiiiight?" The blonde couldn't begin to refute his logic. Why wouldn't he take up the chance to be wealthy and famous, when all he had to do was kill some monsters he'd be fine with killing anyway? And so, with a short nod, Naruto accepted, and offered Gauchief a friendly handshake. "Excellent!" the portly man cried, clutching at Naruto's palm and shaking it animatedly. "I assure you, you won't regret this clever decision! Now come with me!" With a startled cry, Naruto found himself being dragged along by his forearm through the throngs of people that had turned out to see the contest. He sent a pleading look Doc's way, but she just smiled sweetly and waved as he passed by, not even _thinking _of helping him. Why should she?Meanwhile, Naruto had been pushed in front of a raised stage, where several other combatants had gathered to try their hand at the Mi'ihen Fields. Looking to his left and right at the gathered faces, he saw a few he recognised to his surprise, including Wakka, both Luzzu and Gatta, and even a member of the Al Bhed Psyches he remembered seeing at the blitzball tournament. He waved to the first three, and traded a familiar nod with the latter.

"Another sucker you've roped into lining your wallet for you, Gauchief?" Naruto looked round at the words, to see his benefactor being addressed by a slender, noble-looking man in elegant robes of a dark grey, his soft grey-blue hair shadowing his icy eyes ever so slightly as he inspected the boy with a scrutinising glaze. "Just how do you keep making them flock to you? It's becoming a bother."

"N-Now, Meujoux, don't misunderstand the situation!" Gauchief stammered hastily, eyes flickering between the thin man atop the stage and Naruto himself. "He's a contestant, and he's agreed to allow me to become his manager! I'm helping him on his way to glory, you see?" The identified Meujoux looked over Naruto one last time, and scoffed.

"_Glory, _eh? What a load of shoopuf manure." He turned on the balls of his feet and moved to the back of the stage, where a podium had been set up for him to address the participators from. "If you know what's good for you, kid," he called over his shoulder, "you'll drop this guy like hot coals. You wouldn't be the first gullible little sap this jackass has swindled." Naruto sent a sidelong glance in Gauchief's direction, worried by Meujoux's words, but still he turned his attention forwards as the tall blue-haired man began to speak to the group as a whole. "Before we begin, I would like to congratulate you all on your bravery and courage. It takes a certain steel to participate in this hunt; the fields bordering the Mi'ihen Highroad are no laughing matter, I assure you. Fiends of all sizes and varieties are literally waiting to disembowel you." Several of the contestants paled, and a couple looked physically ill. "Aha, I may have over-exaggerated a little. What I mean to say is, it will most certainly be a challenge for any aspiring hunter. But that is the way with all things in life: if there was no challenge in it, it would be no fun at all."

"He's an optimistic one, isn't he?" said a voice from Naruto's left, to find the Al Bhed blitzer stood at his side, his arms crossed over his leather-bound chest. Naruto kept his impersonal stare for a moment, his oceanic blue eyes locked with soulless black lenses, before a grin broke across his cheeks, and he nodded. "Eigaar." The blonde looked confused for a moment, so the Psyche elaborated. "It's my name; Eigaar. I saw you play back in Luca, you know. You're quite the blitzer. What kind of guardian angel do the Aurochs have to curse them with such a terrible losing streak, then grant them _you?_"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Eigaar was silent for a few moments, and Naruto realised that he was raising an eyebrow behind his mask. "I drifted onto Besaid Island from the sea, and after their hospitality playing for the Aurochs was the least I could do to repay them." Barely had the words left his mouth than a look of realisation passed across the teen's features, and he smiled hopefully. "Say, Eigaar, you know a few other Al Bhed, right?" The leather-garbed man was taken aback for a moment.

"...Well, yes, I suppose you could say that. I know others just as you know people from Besaid. Friends, family, acquaintances. Why do you ask?"

"Well, a little while before I washed up on Besaid, I was rescued from this monster fiend by an Al Bhed salvage ship, and I kinda wanted to meet the girl who saved me both from the thing and her friends, and gave me food. You wouldn't happen to know a girl called Rikku, would ya?" If Eigaar was surprised at the name, he certainly didn't show it. Then again, since most of his body was covered, he didn't have to work very hard to mask his start at his fellow blitzer's words. "It really means a lot to me, so if you do know her..."

"I can't say I do," he informed the boy sadly, shaking his head. "That's not to say I can't find out, though. I'll ask around and get back to you when I find something, okay?" Naruto grinned and nodded, before turning back to the stage, where Meujoux was nearing the end of his explanations. Eigaar watched him out of the corner of his eye, brow furrowed in a small frown. When the blonde had begun his story, he thought he might've been making it up or had been confused somehow, Sin or not. But liars and fools don't spout the name of the Al Bhed leader's daughter so casually.

"Onto the rules, then," Meujoux declared, retrieving from within his robes a small, sea-green sphere set in a strange silver device that appeared to be a sort of propulsion system. He held it in the palm of his hand, where it began to glow brightly and hover a few inches from his skin, before taking to the air and flying in circles around the blue-haired announcer. "This device is an automated reconnaissance sphere. It is programmed to follow its target until ordered otherwise, gathering visual data much like a normal sphere. Each and every one of you will receive one of these machines for the duration of the contest, to record the variety and quantity of fiends you dispatch. When the hunt is over, a judge will view the contents of these 'ARCspheres' and determine, through a pre-ordained ranking system, who has garnered the highest number of points and therefore wins the competition. Other than that, you will be allowed free reign of any equipment or abilities you have with you. 'No holds barred', as it were. So, with that dealt with, please gather at the road's edge as soon as possible." Meujoux bowed, his work done, and left his podium, stepping down from the stage and setting off towards the edge of the crowds, where the hunt would begin, at a brisk pace. Naruto gravitated towards Luzzu and Gatta, who smiled politely in greeting.

"Fancy meeting you here, Uzumaki," the elder Crusader began, suppressing a smirk. "I can't fully say I'm surprised to meet you here. What I cannot fathom is why, though? Is it an underlying need to prove yourself, or are you simply more bloodthirsty than your average boy?"

"It's a mystery," Naruto agreed, grinning. "What about you two? You're in the Crusaders, aren't you? Why'd you decide to sign up for an event aimed at the public?"

"The Mi'ihen Commemorative has been organised by the Crusaders every four months since its inception, and while it _is _mainly for the common people's enjoyment, there are no restrictions on Crusader participation. We may be soldiers, but we can still have fun."

"Oh yeah!" Gatta cried animatedly, only to quiet down when Luzzu arched an eyebrow at him. "I-I mean, yes sir."

"Hm," Luzzu's throat thrummed with interest as he stroked his chin in thought. "Speaking of fun, would you care to partake in a little wager? Purely for entertainment's sake, of course." Naruto tilted his head.

"What exactly did you have in mind?"

"It's fairly simple: if I or Gatta should acquire more points in the hunt than you do, then we win an item of your choice. However, if you gain more points than either of us, then you win an item of ours. Does that sound fair to you?" Naruto thought about it for a moment, before finally giving an enthusiastic nod, grinning widely.

"You're on, Crusaders. Let's see what you're made of."

* * *

The buzzer sounded harshly in Naruto's ears, and the blonde literally leapt into the tall grass, his blade drawn from its sheath in a swift, fluid motion, its edge immediately raised to meet the jaws of an attacking Dingo. The short edge tore through the flesh of the beast's side, ripping open a deep gash the length of its body and causing its form to fade as it broke away into a myriad of coloured pyreflies. The ARCsphere gave a soft beep and a short green flash as the blonde ended the canine fiend's existence, and a small smirk came to his whiskered cheeks. One down...

His limbs sprung into motion as he pressed onwards into the fields, cutting down whatever stepped into his path. An Ipiria shot down by Byakurai, its body twitching as bolts of white lightning danced across its thick scales. A Gandarewa, beheaded in a single swing as Naruto leapt into the air to meet it, the flames spiralling between its long fingers never having the chance to fly. Even a mighty Garuda, its serpentine head swaying with its draconic screech, met its end as Aoshiira's blade pierced through its thick, leathery wing in a shower of blood, bringing it down to the ground where the teen finished it off with a decisive strike to its throat. A cackling laugh tore from his lips as he leapt away from the bloody scene, echoing over the Mi'ihen plains, and then just as quickly as it had come it vanished. The blonde fell silent. Warm, oceanic blue froze over and became narrowed slits of ice. His calloused fingers gripped Aoshiira's hilt with enough force to burn his skin from the friction of its cloth wrapping.

"I honestly should've known I'd see you some time or another..." he growled under his breath, baring his teeth ever so slightly at the figure before him. The newcomer's eyes, red irises surrounded by black sclera, watched the blonde unyieldingly, even when a Raldo leapt at him. The figure threw out a grey-skinned arm to the side, and a spear of pale blue lanced through the thick-shelled fiend, its shaft flickering as bolts of lightning danced along it. Naruto grimaced ever so slightly. He hadn't even _looked _in the creature's direction when he killed it, as if it was even less than a nuisance. As if it really didn't matter. It didn't, he realised. This person, if it could be called such anymore, was only interested in the demise of a single individual: Naruto. It appeared to sense the blonde reaching that conclusion, as it hissed, a harsh, piercing sound of air escaping between the long fangs that pressed down against its bottom lip, and its large, leathery wings appeared to stretch out and flap experimentally. "You're haunting me even in death... man, I just can't catch a break, can I?"

"_**Heeegh..." **_the creature groaned, extending its clawed fingers outwards as thin bolts of electricity arced between the thin digits. And then, to the slight surprise of the blonde, it parted its blackened lips to actually _speak. __**"Kiiilllll..." **_it hissed, the light in his palms coalescing into a pair of long, thin blades of pure, unfiltered energy, their silhouettes distorted by the very electricity they consisted of and crackling violently. Naruto grinned, and held Aoshiira at his side with the blade pointing away from his opponent, his body lowering as he prepared to leap.

"Couldn't have put it better myself," he finished, and in a flurry of movement he'd half-crossed the gap between him and the figure, bringing his sword round in a vicious horizontal swing, only for him to wince as a horrible jarring feeling passed through his muscles, the blade of his wakizashi clanging uselessly against the edge of one of his foe's lightning swords as if it were metal like any other. The sudden block threw his balance and he stumbled horribly, swiftly rolling away from a blow that would have separated his head from his shoulders had he been any slower. The ground parted with a horrible groaning crack at the touch of the creature's sword, and almost immediately the other's point was thrust forward at the blonde, who ducked under the strike and lashed out at the extended, grey-skinned arm with his own blade. The fiend barely flinched as the wakizashi's edge tore into his skin and rent the flesh apart, and it regarded the severed limb without a flicker of emotion as it flopped uselessly to the ground, its sword dispelled as it fell free from the rest of its body. "Haha! One down!"

"_**Not... pain..." **_the monster breathed heavily, and raised its arm to chest-height, where, before his very eyes, bones burst from the blood-soaked stump in a shower of crimson, tendrils of muscle crawling over white, followed by grey skin, and even as Naruto stared the beast's hand simply _grew back. _It opened and closed its fist experimentally, as if displaying its power to the blonde, who marvelled at the degree of regeneration; even its painted fingernails were back, as if the limb had never been severed at all. Even his regenerative capabilities weren't _that _fast. A cold, unpleasant shiver ran the length of his spine. This would not be easy, by any stretch of the imagination. His fingers strayed to the Magun holstered at his side.

'_**You aren't honestly thinking about using that here, are you?'**_

'_I might not have a choice here, Kyuu-chan. If he's strong enough to regrow limbs instantly, then there's no way I can take him apart piece by piece. He'll just pull himself back together before I can do anything. The only way I _might _be able to stop him is to cut off his head, or kill him in a way that destroys his entire body at the same time.'_

'_**But you know how much damage that causes! There are other contestants in this field, what if it hits one of them by mistake!?'**_

"Then what do you propose I do!?" Naruto screamed aloud, grabbing at the Magun with his free left hand. In an instant the metallic, golden surface flowed like water around his fingers and enclosed his arm, forming into the intricate form of its thawed state. It stayed like that for but a moment, however, as it soon morphed into the glimmering flintlock pistol that Kyuubi had gifted him, its barrels alight with small, flickering flames. "I don't have any other choice here...!"

* * *

"You look tired."

Doc looked up, eyes trailing away from the unbroken wall of grass that easily rose over the head of grown men, and met the hard stare of the group's newest member, his sword rested upon his shoulder. She gave a weak laugh, and looked away to where her redheaded charge sat conversing animatedly with Yuna.

"Can you blame me? I've had more work in the past couple of days than I've had in years," she remarked, resting her crossed arms atop her knees as she drew them close to her chest. "I don't think I'm cut out for this kind of medicine... I preferred it when people would come to me if they had a cold, or a bad case of the measles, but the stuff I've had to heal with you guys around is kind of staggering."

"I'll admit, the boy is very good at getting himself into trouble."

"If only it were just that..." Auron gave her an odd, questioning look. "Seeing Naruto... brings back memories. Memories I'd much rather lose altogether than remember them in the way I am now. You can probably tell already, but I'm cold, bitter and spiteful, and these feelings are just making me want to hurt him. Every time I see his wounds, a part of me wants me to leave him in that state, let him succumb to the injuries he's brought upon himself. 'Course, I know in my head that if I left him to it he'd heal up completely with time, the guy's a tenacious little bastard like that. But that doesn't change my heart."

"I understand."

"Do you?"

"...well, not really. I can't say I can truly imagine that kind of internal torment. But I _do _know what it's like to want to blame someone, anyone, for something that ultimately wasn't their fault. It's a coping mechanism common to everyone, so you shouldn't feel too bad about it. Perhaps you should talk to Naruto about your feelings, and get his thoughts on the matter." Auron adjusted his sunglasses. "Granted, they might be a tad less... _sophisticated,_ and severely lacking in compassion, but it might just help you past this anger you're directing at him."

Doc laughed again, burying her chin in between her kneecaps as her stare focused on the grass beneath her. "I appreciate the thought, but it's just a tad more complex than that."

"Doctor-san, doctor-san!" Her head snapped round at the call, to find her patient looking at her with a worried gaze, her emerald eyes wide with fright. "I think something's wrong!"

"What do you mean, 'wrong'? Are you alright?"

"It's not me!" the girl cried indignantly, shaking her head roughly and causing her long red locks to swing from side to side. "I can feel something, in the grass! It feels horrible and dark, and it's right next to that guy!"

"Who's 'that guy'?"

"Perhaps she is referring to Naruto," Auron offered helpfully.

"Well, I guess that would make sense. But what could-" The words died in her throat, and her eyes grew wide behind her glasses. It was as if boulders had settled upon her shoulders! An overwhelming pressure pressing down on each and every inch of her body, forcing cold, unpleasant shivers to dance across her skin, raising hairs in their wake. It overwhelmed the fire of aggression burning within her, and reducing it to a smouldering cinder in favour of its own oppressive power. And what's more, it was far from the first time she'd felt such a thing. Oh, it had been so long since, but those memories still burned freshly in the forefront of her consciousness; memories of walls that were built to protect her and countless other crumbling like biscuits, of powerful warriors whose names had made their way into history books on the backs of their fighting prowess falling helplessly before their enemy, of the only light she had in her life winking out of existence right in front of her, and most importantly, of those ghastly red eyes, spinning hypnotically as plumes of black flame erupted from the very air to consume whatever they touched with their unholy power.

"Where are you going?" To be honest to herself, Doc didn't know when she had risen to her feet. She didn't even know she was _able _to, considering the weight on her frame. And yet still, she found herself reaching for the long, thin pouch she kept strapped to the back of her waist and retrieving its contents with unsteady hands. Her fingers closed around the cloth-wrapped handle, brushing against the cold, specially-prepared steel and tightening around the firm hilt as if it were her lifeline. She drew the knife and held it at her side as she leapt forward into the grass, heedless of the warnings of those around her. Her eyes stung as the rushed through the field, but that was not the only reason her cheeks burned an angry red with hot, glistening tears.

"You..." she hissed through gritted teeth. "Both of you... will pay for what you've done..."

* * *

**Dun, dun, DUUUUN! That's right, I'm back, bitches! The wait has been horrendous, I'm sure. ^_^ I just started college (high school for our international viewers) and it's pretty awesome, but I'm too tapped out to write when I get back. Plus, this chapter was a hag to write - it felt so easy to make it up in my head months ago, but putting it down in cyberspace made it all... I dunno, jumpy. Like a scratched DVD, sorta. But, that's my head's problem! **

**On a side note, my birthday just passed, so I'm now 17! AND I got sweet new games! Borderlands 2, FFXIII-2, Tales of Vesperia, Darksiders 2 and Catherine! I absolutely love all of them, despite not having played my copy of Final Fantasy yet, and I've already worked elements of Catherine into a Bleach fic I've been writing, so be on the lookout for that! **

**So, this is really just to say, 'I'm super-mega-ultra-hyper sorry for the four-month wait, I hope you'll all forgive me, and enjoy this peace offering as you wait for the story to REALLY kick off!' Other than that, have a great day, and goodbye!**

**Review Corner:**

**Blackholelord: I like unique twists. They're funky. =3 And yes, I do plan to cover X-2's storyline, even if it was a little... odd. I have BIG plans. Plans so BIG that the word BIG has to be CAPITALISED everytime I write it because of its BIGness. Can you say, 'fights inspired by MontyOum's Dead Fantasy making a big hole in Kilika'? Very good!**

**kurokamiDG: Ah, my faithfullest (if that's a word) reviewer! Your text is a refreshing read after so long! When you say 'the summons confuse you', do you refer to the toad summons that appeared in chapter... *counts on fingers* ...something? Or to Belias and Bismarck, his Soil summons? If it is the latter as I assume, then please voice your concerns, and I will be happy to put your worries to rest! I'll admit, I had initially planned to put Lulu in the harem, if only to satisfy the fanboys as I don't really enjoy seeing protagonists with older women, with the exception of Anko, Quistis and maybe a couple of others. Whether this is because I feel it kills a storyline because it shows that the author's only interest in a romantic subplot is big boobs and steamy sex, like so many fics I've read and now tend to avoid, or because I am, in fact, a shameless lolicon. I will neither admit nor deny either of them, but either way my point still stands. When I saw you review, however, I began to wrack my brain for a way out of putting her in Naruto's harem. I think I have one now, but I don't know when it will be. All I can say is: truths will be told, hearts will be broken, and against all odds Naruto will still be a massive playboy. 'Nuff Said. **

**Reishin Amara: There she is! I realise I may have slightly neglected her, but no matter. I probably should point out that outside of basic social interactions with Naruto and the inevitable romancing of said fair lass she will not play a huge role until later. Like, **_**way **_**later. That being when her identity is truly revealed. I seem to have a tendency for that kind of revelation, considering there's one next chapter. All you people gonna know Doc is, once and for all. It's probably not as exciting as I make it out to be, but to me it is. **

**You will fear my laser face: Umm... that would be because my creative brain is failing me, and I have need to heavily reference the original material. Nah, just kidding, it's because I needed a way to bring Auron into the fold. I'm sorry you feel that way about the story, though. If you have any suggestions about what could make it better, please feel free to tell me. I live off your input.**

**snow299: ...Assuming you were actually being serious about the romance thing (I'm bad at detecting sarcasm, despite how much I use it), you have absolutely no idea how much that means to me. Seriously, that makes me feel so good you would not believe, and I will strive to meet your expectations time and again, if only for comments like that. Thank you so much. This goes not only for you, but for everyone who commented positively, and with something more in-depth than 'update plz' or 'good chapter, hurry up with the next'. You may be the audience, but I am still your humble and willing servant. **


	10. Chapter 10: Look What You've Done

**Chapter 10, Look What You've Done**

"Stop fussing already," the middle-aged man grumbled from behind his desk, drumming his fingers upon the hard wooden surface as he watched her preen herself in the mirror. A soft smile pulled at her pale cheeks and a pink tinge painted her cheeks just below the rim of her thick glasses as she tucked a stray strand of olive green behind her ear. "You look lovely already. Is all this really necessary?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Higuchi!" she cried indignantly, rounding upon her superior with puffed, reddened cheeks. "This is the first time he's actually bothered to ask me out on a date, and I want it to be special!" Her usual labcoat hung forgotten upon a hook beside the office door, forsaken in favour of an elegant, forest green dress that clung to her form almost like a second skin. True, it looked a tad strange, what with her unkempt hair and frazzled appearance, but the last time she'd tried to run a comb through her olive tresses the damned thing had near snapped in two, and even then he'd said it looked strange.

"You get all dressed up for a date with _that guy, _and you call me ridiculous." Higuchi took to twirling a ballpoint pen between his long fingers, resting his square jaw in his free palm. "I'm surprised he put in the effort to ask you out at all." She bit her lip hesitantly. She didn't like to admit it, but she had been surprised about that as well. Perhaps it was her lonely heart, or simply a poor taste in men, but her sights had been set upon the most uninterested individual in the entire village since the moment she'd laid her eyes upon his tired scowl. It had already taken much pushing and prodding to get him this far, and she shuddered to think of the work on her part to make him commit to an actual relationship.

"That's mean, Higuchi..." She saw herself pout in the mirror. "He's not _that _bad, you know. He just needs a little nudge in the right direction every now and then."

"I don't think a 'little nudge' is the right word for it..." An interested hum sounded through the silence of the room, and with Higuchi's deep voice it caused the floorboards to reverberate beneath her feet. "Looks like the Summer Festival's in full swing already. They've got fireworks in the sky and everything." She glanced to the side, and in the reflection of the mirror, she saw what Higuchi meant. In the sky's fading light, a dazzling purple light rose into the air like a ladder to heaven, spearing toward the clouds. A shiver passed down her spine. Something felt wrong about the way it ascended, hanging ominously in the air like a blade over the neck of a criminal. Even more so when it arced downwards, and she realised that it _wasn't_ a firework. Not any firework she knew of, anyway; not one that could cleave through solid stone as easily as this one did through the great wall that had stood proudly, undefeated, since its construction.

"Oh my..." was all she could manage as the violet brilliance - a fiery blade, she now realised - tore down the only thing that stood between the people and their attacker, and revealed the towering menace of purple flame, sneering maliciously down at the humans below. It threw out an arm, and from its wrist flew a volley of arrows, all formed from the same supernatural blaze, which burst into great roiling fires as they collided with the ground. She screamed as the door slammed open not three feet away from her, starting as a hand gripped her wrist and began to pull her away. "What are you doing with me!?" she cried, only to stop as she sighted the man who held her.

"Why are you struggling!?" he hissed angrily, tugging on her arm frantically. "It's not safe here, I have to get you out of here!" She gaped wordlessly, eyes flickering between her love and Higuchi, who scrambled to rise.

"Go!" the man yelled to her. "I'll follow after you in a moment! Just take her and go!" Her lover nodded and tightened his grip on her wrist, nearly wrenching it from its socket as he forced her from the building and out into the street, just in time for a spear of violent violet flame to lance through the roof, burning it to a crisp within moments as its walls exploded from the intense heat. A pained grunt escaped the young man's lips as he pulled her in front of him, shielding her with his body and ignoring the scream she let loose as the wave of hot air rushed over them both, threatening to peel the very flesh from their bones.

"Higuchi!" she shrieked, already knowing her boss' fate. There was no surviving such an attack head on. Hot tears spilled down her pale cheeks, marring her perfect flesh with furious scarlet streaks even as the young man lifted her fragile form in his arms and carried her away from the smouldering wreckage, only to stop, his arms feeling weak around her thin frame.

"You..." he growled, eyes hard as he cautiously watched the masked figure before him.

"Me," the stranger agreed, arms crossed over his robed chest. "How noble of you, boy genius, to save the one you love from certain damnation. It truly is admirable, the lengths you people will go to for those you consider precious... admirable as much as amusing."

"Just what do you hope to accomplish by coming here?"

"Well, I was just in the area and I thought this would be a delightful place for a summer home- what do you think I'm here for!? Can you not see what my appearance has wrought already?" He threw his arms out to the side, gesturing to the carnage that once was a proud city, full of people, and now lay as a burning ruin filled with corpses. "My only goal, as of right now, is the complete and utter annihilation of this village and all those associated with it. Your pride-and-joy has spurned me, torn my ultimate achievement from between my fingers and trampled upon it. Your people will pay his due."

She yelped as her body came tumbling to the ground, feeling her beloved's limbs grow numb beneath her, and screamed as he fell to the earth beside her, his form blurred by the quivering black flame that covered every inch of his body mere moments after its application. His face was set in a look of horror, before that too was consumed by obsidian fire. She looked to the man who had done this, eyes wide with fear as she stared into the spinning black pupil and bloody crimson iris that stood out boldly from the right eyehole of his mask, and the rippled lavender pool from the left.

"I am so sorry, my dear," he apologised mockingly. "Did he mean something to you? Allow me to make it up to you... I'll permit you both die together!"

The wooden shaft, thick and unyielding, felt as deadly as a blade as it passed through her stomach.

* * *

The memory was not her fondest by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps, by some cruel twist of fate, that was what made it stick fast within her mind, plaguing her with the pain of loss for the rest of her days. She was not a hardened warrior. She could not turn her pain into strength like so many of history's finest swordsmen. She was a young woman who had been slighted horribly by a man who could not even bring himself to reveal his face, who wielded ungodly flame and nature itself like mere extensions of his body, and who had left her with this agony and the fire of revenge for nigh on a thousand years now.

A lot can change in a person when they live for a millenium.

* * *

Naruto was losing. Even he knew that much. No matter how many limbs he removed, how many pieces of the enemy's body he reduced to ashes, _no matter_ _what he did at all, _this creature showed no signs of weakening or tiring. Of course, why would it? It was not human: it was a fiend, the monster formed from a grieving, twisted soul. It was everything that is bad about a person, and ever was, and unfortunately he just had to run into the fiend of perhaps one of the most negatively emotional individuals he had ever met. An agonising howl tore from his throat as one of its blades rent the flesh of his left arm apart, bolts of blue lightning illuminating the wound in a brilliant white glow as they pumped their electrical power into his body, sending waves of pure, unfiltered pain coursing through him.

"I... I'm running... a little low on... options here, Kyuubi..." he panted, leaping away while clutching his arm with the last two fingers of his right hand, the others wrapped around the handle of his Magun. "Do you still think I have a choice other than to use it!?"

"_**Stop yelling at me, dammit! I'm just trying to help you! I don't want to see you get hurt, and you know that if you use it when that Doc girl isn't around then I can't heal the damage properly! It's not like you could throw it at him, he's too fast for it to actually connect!"**_

"Shit..." he cursed, eyes cast downward but still wary of the creature, standing completely still not fifty metres away as it watched him with blood red eyes. "This trip's turning out to be one bad situation after another. If this continues, I'm not gonna be able to keep it up!" He pulled his fingers away from the wound on his left arm as it sealed shut with a wisp of steam, and rose to a standing position. "Hey, Kyuubi... d'you think _that _might work?"

"_**Th-That...? A-Are you sure that's such a good idea? You haven't mastered it, there's no telling if you'll be able to use it effectively, and-"**_

"What's the problem?" Naruto inquired curiously, smirking. "Don't tell me you're getting all hot and bothered because we need to get closer..." He could practically _feel _the blush burning at Kyuubi's cheeks. A grin pulling at his own, he stretched out his arms, letting the Magun return to its thawed state in the wake of the torrential wave of pure, unfiltered gold that washed over him, bathing him in its divine light. It clung to him like a second skin, wrapping every inch of him in raw power marked with thick, indomitable black seals as if someone had swept a brush across his very body. He would have looked almost angelic, lit up like the sun in his aurous cloak, were it not for these black marks, and the long, curved horns that speared skyward from behind his fringe, lifting the locks of sun-kissed blonde with their energy. The light lashed out from his body in long, thin whips, sundering the earth at the slightest touch with the force of the power it held barely restrained within that blinding golden glow. Naruto's elongated canines met the considerably warmer outside air as he bared them in a feral grin, flexing his hands experimentally. The power coursing through his system was simply immense! It felt so amazing, like hot lava burning through him without a shred of pain, only the unbearable, wonderful heat empowering his every move. And to think, the 'Nine-Tails Chakra Mode', for lack of a better name, wasn't even complete!

Saying that, he hadn't really had time to perfect it. He'd assumed this form all of three times, and not once in the past seventeen years he'd spent in Spira, so controlling it was still a little difficult. Not to mention that Kyuubi could get a little... _apprehensive, _at times, to completely and utterly fuse the two together in the manner necessary to reach the next step to the kind of shared existence Bee and Hattsan had acquired. Not for lack of trying, mind you, but the very mention of _fusing _left Kyuubi a gibbering wreck of red faces and teenage hormones, until she turned 'tsuntsun' on him at least. For now, this limited connection would hopefully be enough... though seeing the rather uninterested way the fiend eyed his new form, he was inclined to think otherwise. He winced in advance. There was no chance of this being pretty.

He raised a single hand, Rasengan materialising in his gleaming palm without any kind of preparation, its bright white-gold chakra spinning furiously mere millimetres from his shielded skin, and pushed his left foot forward through the dirt, bringing his body closer to the ground. In response, the creature brought up its twin lightning blades, readying its own strike. Then, they both lunged, and the earth beneath them cracked and crumbled under the weight of their respective powers. Dust filled the air with thick, heavy clouds as solid stone simply disintegrated from the sheer pressure of their chakra, pressing against each other as their attacks met in a violent explosion of red and gold, blue and violet. Winds danced around them, shearing deep trenches into the dirt, only for that same earth to burn as bolts of lightning arced across it, and the ungodly howl erupting from the point where these two great strengths clashed fervently with each other sent out shockwaves from the sheer volume and pitch.

It was like watching gods brawl. Calamities tossed about like stones from a sling and even the most grievous of wounds regenerated in moments, then the assault resumed with unrivalled fervour. Their power was that of gods, but the ferocity with which they attacked was _animal _in nature. The way they lashed out with limbs, alight with burning chakra, forced that same energy out as blasts of pure fire and lightning, and continued their fevered place even as they tore each other apart almost literally, neither relenting for a moment.

For one moment, it looked like the monster had the upper hand, letting loose a stream of flame to combat the shearing winds that spun as near-visible blades around Naruto's hands, but just like that Naruto batted away the gout of fire with an unbroken beam of unbridled chakra and returned the offence full force, fighting with wind and fire in each hand.

Mere moments later, the monster found its legs trapped by a pair of flowering vines that had crept up around its shins from beneath the shattered ground and wrapped around the limbs, leaving it vulnerable to the oncoming Oodama Rasengan. But a swift slice at each from one of its swords freed the fiend quickly, and he leapt away from the great spiralling sphere, leaving it to crash into the ground with a mighty explosion.

It seemed an even match, for as soon as one gained the advantage the other quickly turned the tables. An equal fight, but for how long? Fiends were notoriously hard to tire. After all, they were formed from the souls of human beings wandering their earth in their own grief, not their bodies. It was far more difficult to exhaust a spirit than it was to exhaust a body, especially when that spirit was especially strong to begin with and had only been strengthened by its transformation into a fiend.

_If this keeps up, _Naruto thought to himself, throwing his opponent aside when a blade clashed against his armoured forearm, its electrical charge dissipating as the dancing bolts spread across his skin, _then this whole fight is just going to end up turning into a contest to see who can power up the most. He's meeting everything I can throw at him without any hesitation!_

"_**Naruto! This isn't going too well here!" **_Kyuubi called, her voice shaky and nervous. Likely from a combination of the fact that he was continuously drawing upon her chakra - being a bijuu, her very life force - and that the situation was very, _very _dire. There was nothing left he could do! The only way he could become any stronger than he already had would be to enter the half-fusion he and Kyuubi had managed against Tobi, forging the form of the nine-tailed fox from their combined chakra, but that would be far too noticeable and destructive. In effect, his power was leashed, whereas the fiend had no such inhibitions.

"Na… Naruto!?"

The fiend's crimson eyes flicked to the side, and its limbs thrust against the ground as it propelled itself toward the voice, brandishing its blades above its head with a bloodcurdling howl. The girl's eyes widened as she watched the sword shear through the air on its path to her head, the dark blur of a figure behind it snarling viciously as it descended upon her.

Only to give a helpless yelp as it soared, limbs flailing wildly around it from the force of the Bijuudama that struck it head-on. Naruto scowled, lowering his arm slightly as the chakra faded from his fingertips, eyeing the motionless form of his foe.

"Try to chase two rabbits, you'll end up losing them both," he warned, watching as the fiend's arms jerked into life, pushing it up from the ground. "You're fighting me. Don't forget that." He looked to Doc, her body trembling as she lay helplessly at the edge of the grassy clearing, with a pitying glance, before turning his attention back to the enemy at hand. It was back up by now, staring him down with slowly spinning red eyes. Its arms twitched in readiness, and its entire demeanour screamed of its eagerness to do battle. To maim, kill and devour whatever stood in its path. It pounced, swinging both of its blades of lightning down upon Naruto in an X-formation, only to rocket back as a pulse of chakra from Naruto's raised palm threw it away like a blast of hot air. It landed on the balls of its feet, bowing gracefully, before once again it charged without a moment's hesitation. Naruto's eyebrow arched even as he forced another pillar of light from his fingertips, missing the beast's head by mere millimetres. Even though it hadn't landed a direct hit, however, the sheer force the Bijuudama expelled from every inch of its being knocked the creature from its feet, collapsing to the ground at its left.

'_**Is it just me, or is it getting stupid?'**_

"Yeah... it's like it's just taking everything I throw at it head-on and getting back up time after time. Then it tries the same tactic even though it didn't work. Huh."

'_**Kind of reminds me of you.'**_

"Ouch, that was cold, Kyuu-chan."

"**I won't lose to you! Not again!"**

Naruto blinked, barely sparing enough thought to slip to the side of the fiend's downward slash as it returned to attack range, before planting his foot into its bare back between the large, leathery wings that reached skyward from its shoulder blades.

"Did it speak?"

'_**You're really asking that question?'**_

"Well, it said a couple of words earlier, but that was a full, coherent sentence. Aren't fiends supposed to be mindless beasts?"

'_**Perhaps this one isn't quite so mindless?' **_The creature spun on its heel and surprisingly tossed one of its blades at his head, the weapon lancing toward him like a spear, but all it took was a slight tilt of his neck to dodge it, and the lightning dissipated into the air harmlessly. Then, it threw the other, but rather than throwing it forward like a spear, it chucked the blade with a forward spin, like a throwing knife, but that collided with a pulse of chakra and disintegrated. _**'Of course, right now it's not really looking like the prime of intelligence. It just got rid of its only weap- oh.' **_Kyuubi fell silent.

Because at that moment, the fiend reached behind him, where just below the knuckle of its huge, hand-like wings rested a long, straight scabbard with barely a seam to separate sheath from hilt. Its slender, clawed fingers wrapped around the right end and tugged, pulling the long, straight silver blade free from its confines with a metallic _shing. _The blade glimmered in the sunlight, even as thin bolts of electricity arced and danced along the even edge. The fiend-Sasuke gripped Kusanagi in both hands in a traditional stance, staring down Naruto sternly. In that instance, standing in a normal position, holding a sword, with that angry look in its eyes, the creature that once was his best friend could not have looked more human. Were it not for the fact that that was impossible, and that it was quite clearly a monster, Naruto might have hesitated.

"You think I'm going to fight fair just 'cause you're wearing his face?"

He _might _have.

"I know that you aren't Sasuke, no chance in hell. You're a fiend, a monster strutting around in his skin like it's your own. I realise that... that somewhere in there, a little piece of Sasuke is still alive, but I'd bet my life that he hates seeing his own body like this! So bring it, fake Sasuke!"

The fake Sasuke roared, baring a little more of its fiendish, inhuman side, and leapt at Naruto with its sword alight with a Chidori. Naruto barely moved as he clenched his fingers around the whirling, howling Fuuton chakra that coalesced in his palm. Its four blades spun slowly around the central sphere, growing exponentially within the cage of his hand, before exploding outward as it met with fake Sasuke's blade.

* * *

Gatta speared a dingo upon his sword, halting the beast in its leap for his mentor, who stood completely still as he stared off into the distance. His own sword was held loosely between his fingers, and his jaw fell slack as he stood frozen.

"Sir...?" Gatta questioned tentatively, reaching up to touch a hand upon Luzzu's shoulder. He retracted that hand like a shot, as if bitten, when Luzzu began to shake, and a laugh spilled from his lips. "Sir Luzzu, are you... alright?"

Luzzu raised his sword and pointed over the top of the grass, to a clear patch of sky, painted orange, pink and purple by the approaching sunset. Then, as Gatta watched the tip of his master's sword waver slightly over the horizon, the air lit up with swirling blue and white, clawing at the sky like a tornado. The dome of light grew and grew like a balloon, until finally it exploded, and blades of wind tore through the air as the energy dissipated. The two Crusaders braced against the powerful wind, shielding their eyes from the clouding dust, shearing wind, and blades of grass as the remnants of the Rasenshuriken spread through the Mi'ihen Plains. And then, when it was all over, they saw the battered, torn and broken body that floated in the centre, hanging there by sheer momentum, before slowly falling to the earth.

"I fear," Luzzu began, wiping sweat from his brow and sheathing his sword, "that we may have lost this wager quite horrendously."

* * *

_Shameful. _That's what it was. An utter disgrace. Here he was, a faceful of dirt, limbs slack and lifeless at his sides, and his battered and broken body didn't even have the decency to _bleed. _If he had used anyother move, it would have made this torment a little more bearable. His limbs torn off, his body disembowelled and devoured before his very eyes, burnt to little more than blackened ashes, or even utterly annihilated in an instant; any outcome would be preferable to this. At least then he would have the wounds to prove that he had fought a long and arduous battle against a worthy opponent. But _this... _this was completely disgraceful.

"So... this is it, huh?"

If he could have said anything, he wasn't sure he would have. What more could he really say? The last time the two of them had spoken, they had been enemies. Mortal foes, even. If he hadn't turned on Madara, that would still be the case. He'd like to say that it was that moment of weakness that lead to such an outcome, but even he knew that the old Uchiha would've killed him sooner or later. But enough of that, he told himself, spitting soil. He didn't like to regret, and he certainly wouldn't spend his last moments on earth doing just that. He looked up, eyes aching as they strained to see past the flat earth, rolling back into his head as they did. All he saw was his friend's feet, the golden light of his Nine Tails Chakra Mode fading as he returned to normal, standing a few feet from his prone form.

"D'you know how hard I tried to bring you back home in one piece?" Naruto murmured, voice low and hoarse. Even from the sound of his voice, Sasuke could tell that the blonde was smiling. It wasn't his usual grin. "You always used to scold me on how stubborn I was, but you were just as bad."

Sasuke glanced away. He was well aware of that fact. He knew just what he'd put his friends through; what he'd put Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto through. He understood how they must have hurt after he'd left, and after what he'd done to try and dissuade them. It was exactly what Itachi had done, after all. But he couldn't go back. There was no way, not after he'd left. Not because he'd be branded a traitor, he could live with that. But because it was something he had to do. He had to find out for himself what happened, and to get his revenge for that night.

"I can't remember... did you ever get that revenge of yours? Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter all that much now. I just hope _you _can learn to let go. I'm not up for another round, personally."

He felt the earth shift beneath him as Naruto's feet drew closer, and the boy knelt down to the fallen Uchiha, lifting his head for him. Sasuke stared, though there was little else he could do. Naruto was smiling, true, but at the same time tears, great drops of salty water, ran down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry for w-what happened, Sasuke," Naruto continued, his voice growing shakier. "You were my first friend, my best friend in the whole world, and all I ever did was kill you... I'm sorry about your family, I'm sorry about chasing you, I'm sorry about Madara... If there was a way to send you back, then I'd take it in half a heartbeat. But there's not, so all I can do is apologise." Sasuke smiled weakly, and closed his eyes. Well, there were _more _shameful ways to die than by your best friend's hand. He felt Naruto grab hold of his body and lift it, holding him closely. And then, nothing.

Naruto's arms fell uselessly to his sides as Sasuke's body exploded into brightly coloured pyreflies, each a brilliant sphere of ethereal light, and drifted off into the sky. He lifted the fallen Kusanagi from the dirt and sheathed, gripping its scabbard tightly between his fingers, before sliding it into his belt beside Aoshiira and rising to his feet, wiping away his tears. All it accomplished was to smear the angry red colouring across his face, but it did nothing to stem the fierceness of his stern expression. Now, he knew. He knew why he had to be in Spira. Not to 'save the living' like Itachi had said, nor to protect Yuna on her pilgrimage. His reason was far simpler than that. He had to find Uchiha Madara, wherever he was, and put an end to his miserable existence. For Konoha, for Sasuke, and most importantly, for himself.

"Are you alright?" he questioned Doc, as she slowly rose from her position at the grass' edge, clear of the battle radius.

"Are you?" she returned sharply, but there was no mistaking the significant worry in her eyes, behind her glasses.

"I'm fine. Give me a couple of minutes, and I'll be right as rain, you'll see." Doc sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I don't believe a word of that, but hey, I won't argue with you right now. It's probably not a good idea."

"Good thinking," Naruto spat, and Doc physically recoiled at the venomous tone. Quickly recovering, she dusted herself off and stepped forward, thrusting her arm at Naruto. Instinctively he jerked backwards, away from the offending limb, and his scowl morphed into a confused frown when the hand just hung there in the air between them. He glanced at her expectant face as if in silent inquiry.

"I thought this might be an appropriate time for us to introduce ourselves. You first."

Naruto tentatively took her hand and shook it slowly, giving the young doctor a sceptical look. "Uh-huh... I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet ya."

"Nice to meet you too, Naruto. My name is Shiho."

* * *

**You guys are still there, right? Here's hoping my followers have followed me into the New Year and are enjoying their own respective 2013! So, now the fiend, who you all probably knew the identity of from the beginning, has been revealed and subsequently defeated, Doc has also been revealed, and so, sort of, has her reason for hating Naruto. If you don't get that part, don't worry, it'll be explained next time. There's also a sneak peek at what happened in Konoha after Naruto vanished, which will be expanded on at a later date, and though probably no one cares, the next chapter will reveal the final outcome of the Mi'ihen Hunt. So, the end of this short detour is nigh, and then it's back on the Highroad and on the way to Djose. With a stop in Mushroom Rock Road, of course. But enough with that, I might as well just let you get on and read it all in detail when the next chapter comes out! So, thank you for reading, please take the time to review, and goodnight!**

**Review Corner**

**Have A Little Feith: Technically all three have been speculated, while two have actually been confirmed. I will say that your feelings are not unfounded, but I'm not going so far as to give anything explicit away just yet. This story is still only in a fledgling form, and it needs time to grow and evolve. To give away the plot so soon would be like slappin' an Everstone on it: it's finished before it even started. If you understand the analogy, that it. It is based on Cerberus, indeed, because Vincent is by far one of the coolest gunslingers I've ever come across and the Cerberus seemed to fit. It is of course different; there's only one fox head encompassing all three barrels, as if they're in its mouth, and the grip is that of a 17****th****/18****th**** Century European flintlock pistol rather than the revolver grip the original had. It seemed classier and fit better with Kyuubi's personality. P.S., your profile image is awesome. I always think of Devil Survivor (and most SMT games) as a fairly niche kind of game, so it surprises me when I find another fan.**

**thegingershiroyuki: Sorry to keep the revelation from you for another chapter! I hope you'll forgive me. I promise it'll be next time, though! Bear with me!**


	11. Chapter 11: Revelation and Resolution

**Chapter 11: Revelation and Resolution**

It was his fault. That's what she told herself. It was his fault that her beloved was dead. If only he hadn't run away from his fears like a frightened little child and faced them head-on, then perhaps none of this might've happened. Konoha wouldn't be in ruins, Shikamaru wouldn't have died, and she would've lived out her life peacefully, rather than the pathetic half-existence she had now.

But she was finding it increasingly difficult to get angry at him about... well, anything! It shouldn't be this hard! She'd held onto the grief, the pain and anguish, for a thousand years or so - it was a wonder she hadn't become a fiend with all that malice bottled up inside her! So why couldn't she summon up that vengeful wrath when she needed it most? Why couldn't she feel the way she wanted to when the object of her ire was sitting in front of her, looking like someone had killed his puppy!?

Perhaps that was it? Because he looked so downtrodden and dejected, she felt _sorry _for him? The anger she desired was replaced with pity?

Maybe that idea had some merit, she thought, as she looked over his hunched form. She had always remembered his hitai-ate worn proudly upon his forehead in Konoha, but now it hung loosely from his neck, allowing his sun-kissed fringe to tall and shadow his eyes, though not enough to hide the sudden glimmer as the afternoon sun struck unshed tears.

Maybe it was something about a crying man that seemed unnatural, or because the tearful person in question was renowned for his bright and sunny disposition, but she felt the sudden and inexplicable urge to wrap her arms around him like a mother would her child who'd scraped their knee. She held back, of course. This was the same man whose cowardly actions had turned this shy, introverted little bookworm into the kind of cold-blooded person who thought of murder in the name of vengeance! She _couldn't _show him sympathy now!

She let the knife slip from her fingers and it impacted the earth with a dull thud, quivering as its blade fixed firmly in the soft soil. Naruto looked to her, and then to the knife. He laughed, and Shiho felt something break. Maybe not in her, or in him, but _something_ shattered under the weight and volume of the sheer absurdity of such a cold, hollow, empty laugh from such a bright and exuberant individual.

"Seems like," he started, turning his cold gaze back to the olive-haired doctor, "I have a knack for making people want to kill me." She growled bestially and rose to her feet, each step striking the ground with a heavy thud.

"I just wanna know why," Shiho hissed furiously, resting a hand on her hip as she loomed over the blonde Uzumaki. "Why'd you run away? Why'd you disappear off the face of the earth when we needed you the most!?"

Naruto lowered his head silently.

"Why did you vanish and let Tobi win? Why did you go and let the village that loved you and heralded you as their hero and saviour get torn apart and _buried?" _Shiho felt the tears fall from her own eyes and spill down her cheeks, leaving scarlet streaks on her pale skin. "...Why did you let the people who cared so much about you, and believed in you the most of anyone, die for you? Why did you let him die?"

She knew that Naruto understood her. They'd never met, and yet still the name 'Shiho' had struck a chord in him the moment she'd told him. Shikamaru had told him about her, obviously, just as he'd told her about the great person he'd grown up with that was Uzumaki Naruto. What sat before her, however, was a frightened little boy, not the fearless hero that played lead in each of those wonderful stories.

"I can't tell you that," he muttered quietly. His head snapped to the side and stayed there, caring nothing for the stinging pain in his reddened cheek. Shiho retracted the hand that had struck him - those whiskers made for an excellent target - and curled it into a tightly balled fist.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Uzumaki Naruto!" she shrieked. "Because of you, my boyfriend died and I'm stuck here playing doctor! Don't you think I deserve an explanation!?"

"Doesn't matter," Naruto snorted callously, staring off into the tall grass. "I won't tell anyone if I can help it. This secret belongs to me and me alone now."

With an exasperated cry, Shiho grabbed a hold of the dagger's leather-bound hilt and wrenched it free, jabbing its silvery blade at Naruto's nose threateningly. He glanced at the weapon sceptically, as if to say, 'is that all?'

"You are literally stuck between a knife and a hard place, so stop running!" Shiho cried, her furious tone wavering for a moment. "I know... You're afraid of the consequences, aren't you? Maybe something will happen that can never unhappen, and that scares you, doesn't it?"

"I'm not afraid!" Naruto roared all of a sudden, leaping to his feet. Shiho felt like a little girl compared to the taller, more powerful boy, but she refused to give up even an inch. But the way his eyes had shifted from that deep, melancholy blue to a fervent, smouldering scarlet made her knees quiver uncontrollably. It was akin to staring headlong into the depths of hell itself!

"Then show me, you coward!" she found herself screaming back at him. The way his muscles tensed up and his eyes narrowed, the thin sliver of crimson still visible burning ever brighter, she feared that he might take her up on that offer in a more violent manner than she was prepared for. She hated the gutless little deserter, but she'd never deny that he was probably the strongest ninja in the village when he'd vanished, and she was sure he'd only gotten more powerful since then. She held no illusions of being able to defeat him head-on like this.

"Fine then," he answered, his voice abruptly low and quiet so his words came out as a throaty growl. His eyes drifted closed for a moment, and when they opened they were a brighter red than ever before, and his rounded pupil had morphed into a thing black slit, sharp as a blade.

The transformation washed over him like someone had thrown a bucket of water over his head. Those triplet sets of thin, whisker-like scratches grew thick and dark, almost like deep gashes torn into the sensitive skin of his cheek. The teeth he bared in a furious snarl lengthened into vicious, dagger-like fangs that gnashed together in anticipation, and the nails hidden within his fists grew out into claws that pierced the flesh of his palms, forcing him to relax his fingers. The messy, untamed mop of golden blonde grew thicker and wilder until it resembled fur more than human hair and shifted in a nonexistent breeze, and finally a hazy cloud of scarlet bubbled up from his stomach and spread over his body like a suit of armour, wrapping around his limbs and torso and turning the air around him into a veritable furnace. Seriously, it was getting hard just to stand near him!

The cloak of red chakra surrounded his entire body, forming large clawed paws at his hands and feet and a pair of long, rabbit-like ears from the top of his head. Similarly, a single long, thick tail of chakra swayed behind him dangerously, spouting from the small of his back. Those three things, where the cloak didn't match the shape of Naruto's body, were made of denser chakra than the rest, and each one felt eager to rend and tear at the slightest provocation.

She'd seen something like this once or twice. The first time was in a history book, telling of the Yondaime's sealing of the Kyūbi no Yōko.

The second was when Naruto had fought with Pein in the crater where Konoha had once stood.

"Do you know what a jinchūriki is?" Naruto asked, his voice a guttural growl twisted and demonised by the malevolent chakra swirling about him. He didn't wait for an answer, because he already knew what it would be. "That is the term used for a human being who has a tailed beast sealed inside of them."

"A tailed beast sealed... So then you...?" Shiho managed, stepped back slightly. Naruto frowned, thinking that it was out of fear or disgust, but in reality the bookish doctor was just finding it difficult to remain standing under the oppressive chakra pushing down on her shoulders.

"That's right," he ground out. "On the tenth of October, the same day that I was born and that the Kyūbi attacked Konoha, the Hokage sealed it into me." He threw an arm out to the side, and where his flesh limited its flight, the chakra claws were not so restrained. A thick limb of pure red chakra leapt through the air and clenched its digits around a large boulder, lifting it into her air with ease and bringing it closer to show Shiho. "Tobi belongs to an organisation called Akatsuki. Their goal is to gather all the tailed beasts together and use them to take over the world. Naturally, the kind of power Kyūbi has makes people do crazy things to get it."

"Like bury a village?" Shiho remarked dryly.

"Like bury a village," Naruto repeated, nodding. "When Sasuke and I fought him, I managed to injure him with Kyūbi's help, so he missed with one of his jutsu and ended up sending me to Zanarkand for the next seventeen years."

"So then, you're saying that the whole reason you vanished and Tobi attacked Konoha..." Shiho started, gritting her teeth. This all seemed too coincidental, it made the whole tale sound ridiculous! And if it really _was _just a mistake on Tobi's part, then it was her who'd look the fool! "...was because of an accident!?"

"I'd like to say that was true, but I was the one who made him lose his focus and teleport me, so it is still technically my fault," Naruto droned, looking stern. "So if you still want to take revenge on me, then I won't stop you."

He waited for the knife to come, but instead received only a dull ache as something hard collided with the top of his head.

"I-Itai...!"

"Don't be an idiot, Uzumaki!" Shiho yelled, pulling back her fist to punch him again. "How could I possibly go about blaming you for something so stupid, huh? That'd make me look like a total idiot!" She screwed her eyes shut, refusing to let her tears fall anymore. Idly noticing her rapid descent to the unsettled dirt below, the proud, bespectacled young woman drew her knees in close to her chest and held them, hugging herself into a tight ball. She wouldn't show him that she was crying, she demanded of herself, pressing her face into her kneecaps to stem the unending flow of salty sorrow and muffle her sobs against the milky flesh of her legs. "You should just go," she moaned, rubbing her face into her thighs until the skin burned with friction. A sharp cry, wavering under the weight of her sobs, tore from her lips as Naruto's hand grabbed roughly at her shoulder and wrenched her body skyward, his strong digits digging into her flesh painfully.

"Don't you _dare _throw your life away!" the blonde ordered in a vicious snarl, bringing her face close to his. "You think I'll just be okay with you leaving yourself here for the fiends!? Don't be ridiculous!"

"I wouldn't be here if I gave a damn what you wanted!" Shiho cried, struggling in vain to pull away from Naruto's vice-like grip. "I've lived far longer than I ever should've already! Everyone I knew and loved is dead, and the only thing that's been keeping me going for the last _thousand years _has been ripped away from me! At this rate, I'll be a fiend myself!"

"And what makes you think that's alright? Do you think anyone would want you to let yourself just die? Do you think Shikamaru would want that?" Shiho felt her anger boil and flare at that. How _dare _he say his name and claim to know what he'd want of her! Her arm jerked to life and rocketed upward, but before it could make contact with Naruto's cheek, the skin still red from her last slap, Naruto's free hand fled from his side and caught the open palm. She squirmed against his grip, but his powerful hands simply squeezed tighter on her shoulder and hand.

"God, why won't you just leave me to die in peace, you stupid jackass-!"

"Tobi's still alive."

Shiho felt her body lock up. Had he really...?

"Wha...?"

"He's missing, but alive. I met Uchiha Itachi a while ago, and he told me so."

Shiho swallowed heavily, feeling the lump build in her throat. She didn't know whether to be overjoyed or terrified. On one hand, it meant that she could finally get her revenge and be at peace. On the other, the madman that was Tobi was still on the loose and her instincts told her to stay as _far _away from that hellish power as possible.

"There're lots of reasons for you to keep living," she barely heard Naruto say as she snapped herself from her thoughts. "Just don't let your revenge be the only one."

Shiho felt his fingers falter on her collarbone and limply trace over her shoulder as his arm fell to his side, and she could have cried at the relief as he did the same with her hand. As she cradled her bruising left hand in her right, the ex-cryptologist looked up at the suddenly silent Uzumaki. His eyes were overshadowed by his hair again, but she could see no tears: only cold, hard determination His eyes were solid and steely, like two narrow pools of ice, and his twitching upper lip gave a glimpse at his gritted teeth.

"I... I have a score to settle with Tobi as well," he ground out, fingers clenching into fists at his sides. "Just like you, I've lost a lot to him as well. He's killed my friends, my teachers... even my parents." Shiho bit back a gasp. It was no secret that Uzumaki Naruto was an orphan, and it shouldn't really be a surprise to think that even orphans must have had parents at some point. But for them to be killed by the same man that stole the lives of everyone you knew... Shiho nodded slowly to herself. Her slender fingers brushed against Naruto's balled fist and gently eased the fingers apart, sliding her soft skin over his calloused palm. Naruto barely flinched as she wrapped her hand around his comfortingly.

"Well, if I'm going to continue travelling with you..." she began, rubbing the pad of her thumb soothingly over the back of Naruto's hand. He looked up at her words, eyes awash with confusion. "Then we might as well look for Tobi together, hm?" Naruto blinked slowly, but didn't say a word. Shiho smiled. "You can't just forgive and forget your way through life, Naruto. Sometimes, people need to pay for what they've done. You never know, maybe a little vengeance might do you good." She took his hand in both of hers and shook it emphatically, while the blonde just stared at her dumbly. "Guess this means we're partners, huh? I'll do my best, so you'd better make sure to do the same!"

Naruto nodded, and a moment later jerked to life as he shook himself out of his stupor. He glanced at the descending ball of golden orange over the horizon, soon to be eclipsed by the tall grasses, and frowned.

"S'almost sundown," he grunted. "I'd better get a move on if I'm gonna win this damn hunt!" He pulled away from Shiho and moved to race off into the grass, pulling both Aoshiira and Sasuke's Kusanagi from their respective sheaths and gripping them at his sides. Shiho shook her head and laughed, leaping after him.

"You're still worried about that!" she called in mirth, struggling to keep up with the seasoned shinobi. "You're just as much a child as I'd imagined!"

The two sped across the Plains, Shiho watching in no small amount of awe as Naruto dispatched countless fiends without breaking a sweat, especially after the battle she'd just witnessed, both ignorant of the blinking green sphere floating along behind them in its silver cradle.

* * *

"What are you doing?"

The individual in question was perched atop a wooden crate, his knees drawn up near his chest, while he shielded his eyes from a sun that had long since set. His sole remaining eye blinked owlishly as he returned his companion's stern look.

"I'm trying to get a good look at that guy, whaddaya think I was doing?"

Gippal hopped down and leant against the crate, crossing his arms.

"I've never seen that guy before," he said, gesturing to his unwitting quarry. "How 'bout you?"

"He doesn't look familiar," Baralai returned. "But that's not really surprising. No one can say they've met everyone in Spira, it just doesn't happen."

"True, but no one gets to fourth place in this thing without making a name for themselves first, y'know?"

Baralai inclined his head in agreement, though reluctantly. He couldn't fault that kind of logic. He hadn't heard of someone getting such a high rank in the Fiend Hunt without first having garnered some renown amongst the general populace as a fighter with a moderate level of skill. But the man - boy, really; Gippal's prey looked like he was only in his late teens - was an unknown. He'd appeared from nowhere.

"So?" Baralai asked, gesturing for his comrade to continue. "So what if you've never seen him? Don't tell me your pride's hurting because a kid like that almost beat you."

"Tch!" Gippal scoffed. "No! I'm just curious, that's all! I mean, aren't you?"

Baralai closed his eyes and let his head drop a little. "I suppose I am a little curious myself," he drawled, opening one eye and fixing it on the blonde. The actual recordings of the hunt were off limits to the contestants and spectators alike - only the judges had access to them. But for a kid with a couple of battered old swords to run in and not only _not _get his head bitten off without a moment's notice, but to beat his fellow Crusaders, and almost Gippal? It was preposterous. But he trusted that Meujoux knew what he was doing and the decision was just and fair. If anything, that only made the situation even more interesting.

He also found it hard not to notice the kid in fourth place exchanging a slew of suspicious looks with Lady Yuna. It was difficult to miss her among the crowd, considering she was flanked by a near seven foot tall Ronso and Sir Auron, who cast an impressive countenance himself.

"Forget about him," Nooj's deep baritone sheared through the mist of his thoughts like the sharpest of blades. Behind the pair of them, the tallest of their group rose from his seated position and started off walking in the opposite direction of where the boy was receiving his congratulations from fellow contestants. "We still have a job to do. We can't afford to tarry here any longer."

Baralai nodded in understanding and followed after with a stern look at Gippal.

The Al Bhed clicked his tongue in irritation as his companions carried on without. His eyes lingered on his fellow blonde for a moment longer until he too followed after Nooj and Baralai, leaving the Fiend Hunt behind in silence.

"Congrats, brudda!" Wakka lauded, clapping a hand down on Naruto's shoulder. His body shook with the impact, but he smiled abashedly nonetheless.

"Hey, I didn't do all that great," he effaced. "I didn't win, did I? I only came fourth."

"That in itself is quite the achievement," Luzzu retorted, disallowing the blonde's modesty. "For someone so young to achieve such a high ranking is almost unheard of, especially considering you can't have had a great deal of combat training yourself."

"Sir Luzzu's right!" Gatta cried exuberantly. "Those three that beat you were all Crusaders, and pretty good ones too! If you'd managed to come even higher than them, then Maester Kinoc would be after you in a heartbeat!"

These praises meant nothing to him, unfortunately. All this talk of Crusaders and Maesters was beyond him; he had no knowledge of the system that Yevon operated under, and he really didn't care that much. If they wanted to think he was a battle prodigy, then let them. It wasn't as if he could tell them _where _he'd learnt to fight, after all.

"I mean, even Sir Wakka only came in ninth, and he's been a guardian for a while!"

The sight of Wakka doubling over in defeat as that cruel blow slammed into him brought a small smirk to Naruto's face. It was only logical that Wakka wouldn't do as well, though; he was a support fighter at his core. How much damage could one really do with a thrown blitzball?

"Which reminds me," Luzzu cut in. "I believe we had a wager, didn't we?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Naruto assured him. "It was just for fun, right?"

"It would be dishonourable not to give you what you deserve, Sir Naruto. You did come in fourth, while I was fourth, and Gatta was seventh. You won fair and square." The Crusader captain gestured to his underling. "Give him his winnings."

Gatta grabbed at Naruto's wrist and forced a green-blue sphere not unlike the ones he'd seen nestled inside the ARCspheres into his palm. It glowed with an ethereal light, and little specks of colour darted around inside of it like tiny fish in a bowl.

"This sphere's used by the Crusaders to help with combat training, and each one's got a different lesson. This one's on advanced swordsmanship," Gatta explained, pointing out a set of small controls on the sphere's outer ring.

"You've done well thus far, but only because you've been using such a small weapon," Luzzu continued, eyeing where Aoshiira and Kusanagi were sheathed together. "I noticed you picked up a new sword. Something that size will require a bit more finesse to wield properly. You'll only end up tiring yourself out if you swing it around wildly." A look of thought flashed across his face, and his hand delved into a pouch at his belt and returned with a thin silver chain hanging from his fingertips. "You beat both of us, which I wasn't expected at all. So here, an extra prize. I found it in a store in Luca, and… well, I suppose it called to me."

"This wasn't part of our agreement…" Naruto tried to rebuke, but the words died in his throat when Luzzu tossed him the chain and he caught it in his right hand, feeling the silver pendant between his fingers. It shimmered in the light as if it were liquid, and despite being entirely metallic it barely weighed anything, but that wasn't what halted him. The pendant was dangerously spiky, each of its three points curling around like a fishhook, and was shaped like the letter 'J'.

It was Jecht's symbol. His surrogate father's symbol.

He wanted to refuse, to send the pendant away. He wanted nothing to do with the memory of that man; that man who had, for the first few years of his second life, been the father he'd always dreamed of but never had, but had frittered the life he had with his wife and adopted son on alcohol. And for what? Because he was fed up of his life of fame and luxury? His fingers clenched around the sharp pendant hard enough for them to dig into his flesh, with half a mind to crush the offending item altogether, but he relented. He released his grip, taking up the thin chain and hanging it around his neck next to the emerald jewel of the Shodaime. He gave his thanks to Luzzu with a silent nod, and walked away without another word.

"Why'd you accept it? Why didn't you give it back?"

"Because Jecht is the reason I'm still alive. If it weren't for him, I'd probably have died the day I showed up in Zanarkand," Naruto answered automatically, not really caring who he was talking to. "And… because I hate the kind of man he is, the kind of man that would waste everything he had - a loving family, a celebrity blitzer's reputation, everything - because he thought that he had it hard."

"You're just like he said you'd be," Shiho laughed, walking beside him. "Shikamaru always said that you hated it when people acted like they'd had a rough time and got all mopey and angsty, because no matter what you knew you'd had it harder and still managed to smile through it." She fell silent for a moment, hesitant. "That was what happened with Sasuke, wasn't it?"

Naruto didn't answer verbally. His increased stride and stiff facial expression, however, told her quite effectively that this conversation was as good as over.

* * *

The situation likely couldn't have been more awkward if she'd tried.

After the exchange at the Fiend Hunt's final ceremony, the group had returned to Rin's Travel Agency in silence. No sooner had they stepped through the front door than Naruto was tossing coin to the Al Bhed proprietor and heading up the staircase to his room. Yuna herself wasn't entirely sure what had gone on, except that whatever it was, it had involved Luzzu in some way and, apparently, the doctor.

The doctor who had become exceedingly friendly with Naruto ever since he'd returned from the plains.

Of course, Yuna would never say that she was _jealous, _oh no. It wasn't proper for a summoner to actively pursue a relationship with a man, especially not one of her own guardians. It would only lead to more problems when… later down the road. Besides, she couldn't say that she'd even known him that long; a couple of weeks maybe. She quite neatly skirted around the fact that the doctor herself had known him for even less than that.

She couldn't explain it. It was something of a feeling. Ever since that fateful day that Naruto had burst into the Cloister of Trials and faced her, she knew there was something special about him. Maybe it was because he'd been able to hold off a simultaneous assault from both Lulu and Kimahri, or maybe because he'd had the gall to go against Yevon's teachings and breach the Cloister when he'd learned that she might be in danger.

There was no doubt that the latter notion had a certain air of… _romance _to it. A ruggedly handsome and godly powerful man spurning the overbearing edict of the church for the sake of a girl he had never so much as laid eyes on, throwing himself into untold peril to ensure her safety above all else; it was a fairytale plot if ever she'd heard one.

In the issue at hand, however, such romantic ideals were not helping at all, for that same man was sitting beside her, on a cliff top overlooking the vast blue oceans that glimmered with little flashes of orange light in the beautiful sunset, surrounded by flowers.

Another fairytale situation.

It didn't help that this man was still remaining stoically silent, and she didn't think she had it in her to ask about what had happened earlier. It was obviously something very personal, and she really hadn't known him very long.

"Pretty."

Scarlet flared in her cheeks.

"H-Huh!?" she squeaked timidly, mismatched eyes thrown wide like a frightened hare. Why had he thrown that compliment out so carelessly, without any indication as to what he was referring to? Was he talking about her, or that doctor, or what!?

"The sunset. It looks really pretty."

With a deep, relieved sigh, Yuna forced down the blush across her nose and forced herself to look away and off into the distance. Indeed, it was a very picturesque scene. The sun's amber rays struck the rippling ocean waves and cast an array of multi-coloured lights against the cliff face, and the aging ruins of ancient machina stood fast and firm against the tide as the dying sunlight coloured their millennial rust a dark coppery brown. It truly was a picturesque scene.

If anything, though, that realisation made the whole thing that much harder to stomach. To have such a stunning backdrop while sitting with a boy was not something Yuna could say she'd done, especially not one she already sorta-kinda-maybe liked. Boys of her age were in short supply back in Besaid. Well, just about everything was in short supply in Besaid. It was one of the smallest settlements in Spira, and many a debate had been had in Bevelle about why such an insignificant, out of the way location had such a prominent landmark as a Temple of Yevon. It was somewhat offensive that they referred to her home as 'insignificant', but there was little she could do to change that.

Yuna shook her head feverishly, trying to rid herself of those thoughts. It wouldn't do to become so side-tracked. What if Naruto had tried to speak to her, and she hadn't noticed because she was too busy pondering the reputation of her home? That wouldn't be good at all! Finally, Yuna nodded her head in agreement. Indeed, it was very pretty.

"I wish I could live in a place like this," said Yuna, smiling peacefully. "It would be so nice, to live with a smile on my face every day."

"Well, you can, right? Just after you beat Sin?"

Yuna's smile faded, and the corners of her mouth took a sour turn.

"But then a new Sin will be born anyway."

She heard the sharp intake of air, not quite a gasp, as Naruto registered that information. Of course, he hadn't known up until now, but he had to have suspected, right? He'd known that Sin had been defeated by the joint efforts of her father, his father, and Sir Auron ten years ago, and yet Sin was still terrorising the shores of Spira today. He had to have realised that Sin would regenerate, no matter how many times the Final Summoning sent it away.

"Every time a summoner defeats Sin, there is a time of peace called the Calm. It lasts until Sin reappears."

"I thought it was a little weird. Didn't make much sense until now," Naruto replied.

"Please, don't say it isn't worth it. Even for a little while, people can sleep in their beds without being afraid. That kind of time is worth anything."

"Hey, I believe you. If there was even a little chance of sending Sin away for just a little while, then I'd stop at nothing to go through with it. And if that does happen, then you can beat it again, can't you?"

Yuna was pleased to hear him say such inspiring words, but her mood dropped even further.

"I only wish I could."

"If anyone could do it, you can. I haven't seen a better summoner than you!"

A small smirk twitched at the corner of her mouth. He'd been in Spira for all of three weeks: how many summoners did he think he'd seen? Still, the praise was more than welcome, and she didn't even try to hide the soft red tint on her cheeks that such an embarrassing outburst had brought on. She edged closer a couple of inches, then fell still.

"Yuna, why does Sin keep coming back?"

"Sin is our punishment for our vanity," she answered formally, as if it were scripted. She'd been explaining that very concept to the children of Besaid since she herself was old enough to understand Yevon's teachings. "It will not go away until we've atoned."

He didn't seem satisfied with the answer at all. A strange cross between a pout and a frown crossed his face, and he looked as if he were deep in thought.

"Atonement, huh?" He spat the word, as if it were a curse. "What did people do that was so bad in the first place?"

Yuna started to speak, but the words died as she realised that she didn't really have an answer. The teachings dictated that it was the overuse of machina that had sent Spira into the downward spiral it was trapped in today, but was that really such a bad thing? That people used machines that made their lives easier? It sounded… bitter.

"It's strange," she whispered, barely loud enough to hear. "Ever since I was a little girl, I've never questioned anything I was told. But when you ask me what was so bad… I can't answer that. There are many things I don't know about the world."

"Then I guess that makes two of us," Naruto laughed, lying back against the grass with his arms crossed behind his head. "Should you really be thinking like that, though? Isn't it against Yevon, or something like that?" A mischievous grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Such thinking is very unbecoming of a summoner!" he wheezed anciently.

Yuna stifled a laugh behind her hand, but couldn't help the bright smile that followed.

"You're terrible!" she cried. "But, you're right. I'll… face it later."

"_After _we beat Sin," Naruto agreed. "When you've got nothing else to worry about." The thoughtful look returned, and he bit his lip. "Hey, Yuna? How are you supposed to defeat Sin, anyway? I mean, we've fought some pretty big things already, but Sin's on a whole 'nother level as far as I can tell."

"With the Final Summoning," she answered formally. Another question she'd been answering for as long as she could remember. "It's the only way to defeat Sin. With it, I can call the Final Aeon, and complete my pilgrimage. The Fayth of the Final Summoning lies in the far north, waiting to greet the summoners who've made it that far."

"At the end of the world, in Zanarkand."

* * *

**Howzit? **

**Been a while, I know (almost four months!), but this chapter did not want to be written, evidently. I got the first part - Naruto & Shiho - down with relative ease, and the last part - Naruto & Yuna - was only written in the past couple of days. It was just that middle bit that, while short, was really quite difficult to word. It really doesn't mean much, but I didn't want to skip right out of the Fiend Hunt because I put it in of my own volition and I didn't want to seem like I was trying too hard to stick to canon. **

**Plus, I like Nooj, Baralai and Gippal. **

**To summarise: Shiho's not mad at Naruto anymore - well, not as much, anyway. She's gotten over her hatred of him for the most part as he's explained what happened, and she's shifted her focus onto Tobi, who is still lurking out there somewhere. For now, she and Naruto have joined forces in their collective vengeance. At the same time, Naruto has received his prizes for the Fiend Hunt: Sasuke's Kusanagi, a sphere on swordplay from Gatta, and Jecht's necklace. He's not Tidus, but he's still really mad at Jecht for his own reasons, and it only gets worse when Shiho likens the situation to Sasuke. Later on, Yuna reflects on how she met with Naruto, and how she feels about him thus far, and Naruto asks her about Sin, 'cause he hasn't really learned a whole lot.**

**Review Corner**

**kurokamiDG: I like using characters that don't get a lot of screen time. I mean, look at the thousands upon thousands of stories about Hinata, or Sakura, or god knows who else. With small variations, they're all pretty much the same, because they've had so much work put into them already that no one wants to write a story where they're any different. It feels like going against diktat. Whereas the few stories I've read that include Shiho have her completely different in each one. That's what I like. The Nine Tails Chakra Mode is just another of Naruto's techniques that I'm including, but it's still not overdrive. Overdrive, in my opinion, should be something unrelated to the Narutoverse, since it is original FFX territory. Up until now, the only non-Naruto tech he's used is the Magun, which I've already stated isn't overdrive. I'm really sticking to the idea that Overdrive is based on emotional distress, like pain, anger, sadness, despair, etc. Naruto hasn't reached that yet, even against Sasuke. I've been looking over the wiki on FFX, and I've worked out a bit more of the story, so Naruto is not going to go overdrive yet, but it will be very closely linked to his ultimate place in the story.**

**Guest 1 - "That's it I'm done at first it started out well. But everything else happened,I mean really where should I start! Okay like last chapter why is lightning jutsu's Ineffective to Sin but Lulu's magic is elemental wise they are no different and just feels like you pull that out your ass just to handicap Naruto. Another thing that's stupid is why does he have to prove ANYTHING to them their Yuna's gaurdans so it's her decision whether he becomes a gaurdan or not and just drags the narrotive. It's even so so SO MUCH DUMBER, when it's reveled that Lulu knew HIS FUCKING FATHER! Doesn't that contradict everything she has said and done past this point and just has her come off as a shallow character for not only jerking around the son of the person she was just to prideful to just ask are you seeing someone"**

**I never once stated that the reason Naruto's techniques - **_**ninjutsu **_**techniques, I might add - were ineffective against Sin's armour was because they were of the lightning element. I did **_**not **_**pull it out of my ass to handicap Naruto. There is a reason that Lulu's magic works against Sin and Sinspawn but Naruto's ninjutsu, for the most part, does not. I simply haven't seen fit to tell you yet BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO RUIN MY OWN STORY. I simply cannot abide people who claim that I've done something stupid without thinking - I realise I do that a lot, but this time it's for realsies - because I haven't explained myself, when the real reason that they don't know the meaning behind each aspect is because to reveal them would be massive spoilers. Why on earth would I want to do that? Not everything's gonna be laid out in the first few chapters, jackass. If you want it that way, don't read a story that's fixing to be a long one. Same with Lulu and Minato. It's all going to be explained, just not right now.**

**Guest 2 - "Great, now we have two annoying and cliche OC, who will, OF COURSE, join the team... A stupid ultra cliche girl, and a stupid ultra cliche doctor, whoopie-fucking-doo !... Personal preference or cliche aside, what really bother me, is that when Naruto use the Magun, he faints just after... your Naruto is Powerfull, well, continue to make him powerfull ! Using the Magun of even having it just don't make any sense, not only because he faint just after using it, but because Naruto is more than enough powerfull without using a power that make him faint !"**

**Essentially the same review as the previous one, but based on a different part of the story. Neither of those characters are OCs, by the way. They both exist in canon. Which canon, I will not say. Also, calling them stupid ultra cliché characters, despite the fact that they aren't really cliché at all - how on earth is being a doctor cliché? - annoys the fuck out of me. Yes, Naruto fainted after using the Magun, and why not? He's just called a monster from an alternate dimension using a piece of technology his body isn't familiar with! You'd be messed up too! I will agree that Naruto is powerful, and the Naruto I write even more so, but that doesn't change the fact that he is a shinobi! He is powerful when using shinobi techniques! Look at it this way: he's got tons of power in the way of chakra and ninjutsu, but he's pathetically weak in terms of MP and magic. Spira functions on different rules, and Naruto's body hasn't adapted to them. He's a strong ninja, but a weak Final Fantasy character, so having the amount of energy needed to summon an Esper like Bismarck or Belias ripped out of his soul would naturally put him on his ass faster than you can say Yunalesca. I put a lot of emphasis on the fact that Naruto is not from Spira, and he doesn't know much about Spira, even the magic they use. He's been living as a shinobi for over thirty years now, since as far as we know there's no magic in Zanarkand, and he's not gonna become a FF god just like that. **


	12. Chapter 12: Insomniac

**Chapter 12: Insomniac**

As the pinkish light of the early morning sun filtered through the windows of the travel agency, Naruto laid on his bed, wide awake. A few hours must have passed since he'd awoken, when the sky was still black and dotted with stars, but he'd found it utterly impossible to fall asleep again. What Shiho had said haunted him. He wished it didn't, that he could forget she ever mentioned it, but that denial only made the feeling worse. Why was he so adverse to the thought that there might be people like Sasuke in this world? Why did he think that there was no way that _Spira _could be anything like his home?

There was reason in his world, for one. There were so many things in Spira that he couldn't for the life of him begin to explain or understand. What was magic? What was Sin, really? Why did Yevon oppose the Al Bhed? Why, if he had been Yuna's father's guardian, did Jecht become Sin? And how? None of it made any sense whatsoever! Back in Konoha, people fought for one of five reasons: anger, vengeance, pride, protection and power. Sure, those reasons might not've been very good ones, but at least they were there. At least there was an explanation, no matter how simple or base, for why things happened the way they did. But here, it was like things just happened, that he should just accept things as they came, and that unnerved him somehow. Was he supposed to just accept that the same could become of Jecht, a man who ruined himself with a potent mixture of anger and arrogance plus a far-more-than-healthy helping of alcohol, as Sasuke, a boy who had had his entire family stolen from him by the hand of his older brother and the order of his village's government? It was ridiculous! It was as if this crazy, messed-up place they called Spira had taken the rules of his own world and thrown them so massively out of whack that they barely even resembled themselves anymore!

He pushed himself up into a sitting position. The sunlight was slowly growing stronger as it rose over the horizon, and the slight chill of the night air was slowly being replaced with the summery Highroad's natural warmth. Out of the four beds in the room they'd rented, only two were occupied: his own, and Wakka's. The older man was sprawled haphazardly across the bed, sheets in a tangle around his limbs, and he snored like a motor engine. Naruto stifled a snort behind his hand. That was how _he _used to sleep, and if he had looked even half as ridiculous doing so, then he'd understand why Sakura kept laughing at him. Auron and Kimahri, on the other hand, were nowhere in sight. This wasn't so much of a surprise, really: neither of them seemed to be the type who'd waste time sleeping. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he stood and stretched out his tired muscles. There was no point in him staying, either. He wasn't going to get anymore sleep, not with his mind in such tumult and the morning so close, so he crept to the door and slid it back, slipping silently out into the hallway without even a peep from Wakka.

"You should be resting."

Naruto nearly jumped into the air when the voice sounded behind him just as he was sliding the bedroom door back into place. He turned, and who would be standing behind him, hawkish amber eyes trained on Naruto in silent accusation, but the towering Ronso himself? Kimahri was leant against the opposite wall, his muscle-bound arms crossed over his chest and lance held tightly in the crook of his elbow, just outside the door to the girls' room.

"I'm fine, really. The Hunt wasn't that tiring." It was true. Apart from his bout with the fiend-Sasuke, the Fiend Hunt had been a walk in the park, and any injuries or fatigue he might have accrued against Sasuke were quickly done away with. Kimahri, on the other hand, didn't seem half as convinced. His eyes seemed to glow as they bored into Naruto, and in silence the Ronso stared until Naruto just had to ask, "What?"

"That was not what Kimahri meant," he growled, his tone strangely sage-like. "Body may heal, but mind is not always so strong."

Naruto blinked, stunned. He was still getting used to Kimahri speaking to him at all, if he were perfectly honest, so hearing the Ronso say something so profound and deep… well, it was perhaps more than our favourite blonde was prepared to deal with. So he didn't. He nodded curtly, flashed a nervous smile, and uttered a quick, "I'll keep that in mind," before heading down the stairs and, crossing the lobby in a few long strides, walking out the door. With each step, he felt Kimahri's eyes on him until finally the walls did not permit him to watch any further, and only when he threw open the double doors and took a stride into the morning air did he take a deep, liberating breath and let his eyelids flutter shut as the breeze hit him.

"_**You're troubled," **_he heard Kyuubi chime in. A smile broke across Naruto's face: though she tried to sound tough, she couldn't mask the worry in her voice, nor in her emotions which beat against the barrier between their two consciousnesses like a raging whirlwind. _**"Tell me what's wrong."**_

_There's nothing wrong, _he lied terribly, stretching out for a second time. _You worry too much._

"_**With you, I can't do much else," **_she drawled. _**"How can you expect me not to worry about you when you refuse to tell me the truth, Naruto-kun? Haven't I earned that much?"**_

_It's not a question of earning or deserving. There's really nothing wrong, so stop trying to invent a problem._

"_**Oh." **_The sound was short and quiet, even in the silence of his mind. It spoke volumes of sadness, disappointment, and hurt. Plenty of hurt. _**"I understand. I won't bother you about it anymore." **_The connection went eerily silent, and it was with a horrible pang that he realised that Kyuubi had forcibly cut off communication. She'd done that very thing only a few times in the past, and each time spelled untold amounts of trouble. It meant that he'd done something so very bad that had hurt her so very much that she'd actually want to stop talking to him. In truth, he knew for a fact that there was nothing she enjoyed more than spending time talking with him – something which, he admitted, he hadn't been doing enough of since arriving in Spira. Not that there was much else she could do inside the seal.

A thunderous crash, coupled with a hellish roar, tore him from his thoughts. There was someone running toward him at high speed: a woman with short black hair and red armour. She was yelling and waving her arms, but he couldn't hear her over the roaring and the ringing in his ears. What he did know, however, was that there was _something _large and black rushing up behind her, and it was going to hit her if she didn't move. He didn't have time to yell 'move'; it would've caught her already. He did the only thing he could think of. He ran towards her, grabbing the closest of his blades in his left hand and wrenching it free from its sheath in one move and throwing out his right arm in another. Mid-step he caught the woman around her stomach and spun, forcing his feet through the dirt even as the earth's friction threatened to halt him. Now that he had her back to him, Naruto pulled the girl flush against his chest and ducked, throwing them both to the ground, while simultaneously lashing wildly with whatever weapon he had managed to pull. The blade jarred in his hand, and a grin flickered across his cheeks as another roar rang out, this one more pained.

A moment later, as the black thing reared back away from Naruto, a stampede of the same yellow creatures he'd seen on the ship to Kilika raced toward him and his new charge, screaming their lungs raw as they fled from whatever was attacking them. The birds ignored the two humans as they hurried past, but Naruto grabbed hold of one that was fitted with a saddle and hefted himself and the woman up as it ran, quickly pulling harshly on its reins to steady it. The chocobo struggled, but Naruto's grip was strong and firm, and soon it had no choice but to turn at his command to face whatever danger it had been running from.

The monster was climbing over the travel agency's roof, grappling its pointed spire with one of its enormous, curled hands. _That _was what had nearly killed the girl, the girl that clutched onto him as he steered the chocobo back toward the travel agency with his blade still in hand. He noticed with a triumphant smirk that its free hand – the same hand that he had slashed – was noticeably damaged, an ugly charred scar across the leathery skin of its sloth-like fingers. He looked down at the blade in his hand.

_Kusanagi._

It wasn't Aoshiira, like he'd thought. It made some measure of sense, though: he knew for a fact that Aoshiira was just an ordinary blade with no special properties.

_Kusanagi, _on the other hand, felt warm in his hand, as if he were gripping a limb rather than a hilt. It pulsed with familiar chakra, and as he tried to push his own, wind-natured chakra into its length, it sparked and spat in protest. Whether the blade had some level of sentience somehow and it simply didn't accept Naruto as its new wielder, or it literally contained Sasuke's spirit and chakra, he would never know. What he did know was that he was going to make the most of what he had. It wasn't as if he was unable to use lightning-natured chakra, anyway.

With a throaty growl, he generated the necessary energy in his palm and forced it through the blade, delighting when it lit up in a storm of electricity, and charged the monster fast and low as it leapt from the building's roof into the chocobo paddock, grappling with the bird under him to keep it on course. Like a jousting knight, he held Kusanagi high and thrust it forward like a lance, willing its point to extend just like he'd seen Sasuke do all those years ago. Kusanagi leapt out at the Chocobo Eater and its deadly tip rammed itself into the hard, leathery skin of its arm, spearing through its flesh like so much tissue paper. The fiend roared in pain and thrashed wildly, shattering the Chidori Eisou, but the damage was already done, shown by the burnt black flesh around the penetrating wound. Naruto pulled back sharply on the chocobo's reins, forcing it into a skid, and thankfully fell just short of the Eater's wide swipe at its attacker. From that point on, however, the Chocobo Eater wasn't taking any chances. It outright refused to allow Naruto an inch more ground, keeping him and his steed at bay with blind swings that would knock the blonde clean off his chocobo if he got within range of them. If he stopped for even a second to perform another Chidori Eisou, it would rush him, and with it flailing around so much, there was no guarantee the next one would hit anyway. The two, man and fiend, were at an unfortunate stalemate.

Naruto's salvation came in the form of a flying blitzball: the blue sphere flew over the creature's shoulder, missing its head by inches, and ricocheted off its claw with enough force to give the fiend pause. That was all the time he needed. Like a bolt of lightning Naruto and the chocobo charged forward, raising Kusanagi once more. But instead of readying another Chidori Eisou, Naruto attempted another tactic, and forced fire-natured chakra into the blade instead. Just as he predicted, a wash of orange flame leapt from its edge and latched onto the Eater's thick skin, filling the air with the acrid stench of burning flesh. The beast gave another ear-splitting shriek and waved its arms about furiously, so Naruto gave his mount the order to about-face and headed back to the relative safety of the travel agency, where he could see the rest of his team beginning to gather. Wakka, having retrieved his ball, scratched his head sheepishly.

"Now I know I can count you," Auron spat dryly, hefting his Katana onto his shoulder with one arm. Wakka groaned, rolling out his shoulders tiredly.

"Aah, gimme a break! I just woke up, ya!"

"It was your idea to help the kid fight that thing. If you're always going to be so groggy, just stay awake."

"Enough arguing!" Naruto ordered sternly, earning himself a plethora of odd looks from his party. He leant back in his saddle and helped the woman in his arms down to the ground, before turning to face the Chocobo Eater with a determined flare in his eyes. "Look after her, right? I'm taking this thing on, so if you don't wanna help then get the hell outta my way!"

He heard a pair of gasps behind him, but he daren't look back. The Eater had calmed down now, and its eyes were solely on Naruto now. The animalistic fury from before was gone, replaced with a focused, all-consuming rage. It was coming for him, and looking at the grotesque burn across its chest, the blonde couldn't say he blamed it. If that were him… he shook off the thought, shifting Kusanagi over to his right hand and looping the chocobo's reins twice around his left wrist before reaching back and retrieving Aoshiira from his waist. His tactical mind was in a whir; the burn across its chest – the one caused by the katon jutsu – had done far more damage than the two raiton jutsu combined, so he could safely say that this monster had a weakness to fire. Peppering it with small fire from Kusanagi and quickly darting away to avoid its claws could work, but he'd rather wrap this up quickly, not to mention he wasn't sure of the limits of his chocobo. If the bird gave out before he did, he wasn't sure he had the reflexes to dodge another attack. He looked at the swords in his hands, and a grin came to him.

He pushed the chocobo into a run to the Chocobo Eater's right and began to circle around, flipping Aoshiira over in his hand. Predictably, the Eater followed Naruto with its eyes as he flanked the fiend, its feet forming small shockwaves as it spun on the spot to keep up with the chocobo. Faster and faster it began to run in a narrow circle around the Eater, just outside of the range of its arms, until finally, when its legs were struggling to move fast enough to keep its eyes on Naruto and his feathered friend, Naruto's hand slipped free of the chocobo's reins and he leapt from its back with all his might, sailing right over the disoriented Eater's head. With Aoshiira in a reverse grip, he crossed his hands over one another and pumped chakra into his palm, preparing for the inevitable backlash as he called out his technique.

"_**Fuuton: Tenran (Wind Release: Orchid Tempest)!" **_Swirling winds kicked up from between his fingers and weaved together in raging tornado that slammed down into the Chocobo Eater's head. Because of its position, however, it was little more than an annoyance, and the only noticeable reaction was that the fiend bent its knees a little more to account for the strain of the hurricane beating down on it. That was just fine, though, thought Naruto as he drew his hand back from the _Tenran _and let the tornado continue on its merry way, readying his next attack. With his right hand gripping Kusanagi's hilt so tightly that his knuckles burned white against his skin, he charged the blade with even more chakra and swung it heavily at the Eater's skull. The blade burst into violent violet flames, flickering and flashing even as Naruto swept them through the air, letting them loose in a smooth, curved arc of contained heat that tore through the centre of the twister like a rocket. The purple flames caught on the spiralling winds and, like a vision of hell on earth, the entire tornado ignited in the same amaranthine fire, ripping and tearing at the Chocobo Eater like a living creature. _**"Katon: Haien (Fire Release: Abolishing Flames)."**_

Naruto's body twirled in an almost hypnotically graceful, if upside-down dance, and when his feet touched the ground they did so without so much as a sound. No dust was kicked up, and Naruto's breath wasn't any heavier, so the only evidence that anything had transpired at all was the scorched ground, the suspicious absence of any chocobos save for Naruto's, and the dying screams of the Chocobo Eater as its body was reduced to a smouldering pile of bone and ash. With the same undeniable elegance, Naruto rose from the slight crouch he'd landed in and threw back his head, sweeping a few stray locks of blonde away from his eyes. A smile cut across his face like a brilliant white tear in a tan canvas as he spun on his heels and bowed flamboyantly to those gathered who, for the most part, were staring at him gobsmacked. Kimahri and Auron's natural stoicism were to be expected, but he considered it a small victory that even Lulu's mouth was open in a silent gasp.

"Morning, all!" he greeted with a cheeky grin. "Good to see you're all up and raring to go!"

"What… what was that?" Lulu's voice came out as a dry rasp. Her eyes were focused not on Naruto but on the blackened stain that used to be a Chocobo Eater as the high-level fiend was reduced to ash by Naruto's _Haien. _

"Hm? Oh, that? Well, you know me. I woke up a little early and decided to get a workout in." Suddenly he was met with a thick, stout finger in his face, quivering in accusation.

"No!" Wakka yelled indignantly. "Stop actin' like stuff like dat's just okay, ya!? No normal guy can do the crap you do! Only, like, the high-ups in the Crusaders could take down somethin' dat big so quick!"

"I think you may be overestimating our abilities…"

The girl in red had recovered quickly, it seemed, as she rose to her feet and dusted off her scarlet armour, turning to Naruto with an appreciative gaze.

"My name is Elma, and I'm a lieutenant with the Chocobo Knights. We're a group of Crusaders that care for and battle alongside chocobos, much like you did just now, and I must say… I've never seen anyone fight quite like you."

"What can I say? I'm full of hidden talents," Naruto replied, crossing his arms behind his head leisurely. Elma laughed and shook her head, before bowing respectfully, her hand on the pommel of the sword sheathed at her hip.

"So I see," she murmured. "I understand that you're one of Lady Yuna's guardians? Maesters Kinoc and Seymour would appreciate it very much if you were to visit the Mushroom Rock Road soon. Their Lordships are very eager to meet you, Lady Yuna." Yuna blushed abashedly, but it went completely unnoticed, for the knight had already turned back to Naruto with an odd gleam in her eye. "And as for you," she continued, chewing a little on her bottom lip. "If you're ever in need of a little honest work, then swing by. The Chocobo Knights could use someone like you." Elma bowed again, though her eyes never left Naruto's grin, and swung herself into the saddle of the chocobo that had returned to Naruto's side with a gentle trot after he had flung himself from its back. "I'd better be heading off myself. I'm supposed to report to Captain Lucil now that the fiend's been taken care of. Perhaps we'll meet each other again, at Mushroom Rock!" The chocobo scratched at the dirt with dagger-like talons as though it were a bull preparing to charge, kicking up a thick cloud of dust behind the wide fan of its tail feathers, before both rider and steed lurched forward onto the Highroad and took off to the northeast.

Yuna fumed silently, though she wasn't entirely sure who she was angry at. Was it with Naruto, because he was apparently so very dense that he couldn't see the affection in Elma's gaze, nor the way she had _oh so subtly _suggested that he join her in the Chocobo Knights when he was supposed to be _her _guardian? Or was it with Elma herself, for doing all of those things before her very eyes? It seemed ridiculous even to her, but she actually levelled a glare on Elma's retreating back. Oh, she would go to Mushroom Rock Road alright, and Naruto would go with her every step of the way, but there would be hell to pay if Elma even _thought _of trying to steal him from her.

"You okay, Yuna?" Naruto's warm, rough call echoed through her thoughts, and when she came to he was standing before her, eyeing her worriedly. "You look a little distracted."

"N-No, I'm fine," she stammered, waiving his concerns with a hand. Naruto tilted his head sideways like a curious cat, before shrugging and turning away.

"Elma, huh? She seemed nice. I guess not all of Yevon's full of grumpy old geezers!" He laughed raucously, ignorant of the dark look that flashed across Yuna's eyes for an instant. "Well, we've wasted enough time here. We should probably get going, right guys? Don't wanna keep the _Maesters _waiting!"

"Why you gotta make fun o' dem, ya?" Wakka moaned. "Ya supposed t'respect the Maesters, y'know? Dey're the only thing keepin' Spira from fallin' apart!"

"Oh, that's rich!" Shiho chimed in, snarling viciously at Wakka with her hands placed firmly on her hips - likely put there to keep her from throttling the poor man. "What've they done, huh? They're not summoners! They're not trying to keep Spira safe from Sin, are they? No! They're sitting on their goddamn _asses _up in Bevelle, safe from the fiends and the infighting, while the rest of us are dying like cattle!" The cryptologist-turned-doctor spun furiously, the sole of her shoe driving a trench into the loamy soil, and strode back toward the Travel Agency with a dignified huff. "Oh, and just so you know," she called back, sneering, "Spira managed itself just fine before the Maester's came along."

Naruto winced. So far Shiho had made it painfully clear that she was livid about what had happened to the old world - not that he blamed her - and she despised what that world had become in the thousand years or so since. And while he may share a great deal of that sentiment, it didn't mean he went around shouting about how he was over a thousand years old. Leaving the others behind, he jogged after her, catching her just before she could storm up the stairs to their rented rooms. His hand closed around her wrist and she whirled, fixing him with a look that might have turned lesser men to stone.

"_What?"_

The blonde withered under her stare and the serpentine hiss with which she spoke. Immediately, he raised his hands before him in defence, a sheepish grin across his face.

"I just wanted to check if you were okay… and, you know, ask you to tone down on the whole 'we're from a world in the past that nobody else knows about' thing?" He laughed awkwardly when Shiho's eyes narrowed dangerously behind her glasses. "I'm not telling you what to do, or anything. It's just that, well, that's the kind of thing that'll get a person thrown in an institution."

"And?" she asked quite seriously. "Why would that make me any different from the millions of other lunatics on this god-forsaken planet?" She made to move, but Naruto's fingers dug further into her wrist, just as they had yesterday, and her gaze returned to Naruto's concerned frown.

"Why are you so upset?" he asked, watching the anger melt away from Shiho's features, replaced for an instant with pure, unmitigated surprise, before all the rage and fury returned twofold, her face burning scarlet.

"Why am I upset? Why are you _not _upset!?" she shrieked, throwing her arms to her sides. "You can't possibly expect me to believe that you're _okay _with this situation! Didn't you dream of being Hokage? Didn't you want to protect the people of Konoha until your dying breath? So why are you trying so hard to fit into this hell!?"

"I can't love both Konoha _and _Spira?" Naruto retorted, his tone strained. He was beginning to lose what little patience he had developed over the years at Shiho's baseless spite for Spira as a whole. It didn't make any sense! What was wrong with trying to get on with his new life? Did she expect him to waste his time mourning the loss of his old world when he could be helping the new one?

"No!" she yelled back, as though she thought it obvious. "That would imply that this godforsaken place has some kind of redeeming quality, but as it stands I can't find a single one! All people do is fight with each other, and for what? How they choose to die! It's absolutely ridiculous!" Shiho cast her eyes to the floor, and her tone grew a little softer. "Don't you miss Konoha? Don't you miss all your friends, and the times you shared together? Don't you wish with all your heart that those days could come again?"

"Of course I do." Shiho looked up at him, and saw how his brow furrowed in a frown. "I miss all of my friends. I miss Sakura, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Kiba, Shino, Hinata,Neji, Lee, Tenten, Gaara, Kakashi-sensei, Baa-chan, Sai, Yamato-taicho, Iruka-sensei, and everyone."

"Then why…?"

"Just because I miss them and I wish I could be with them again, doesn't mean that I shouldn't live just because they're not here." Naruto stepped past her and tread heavily up the stairs. "The old world is gone, Shiho," he called back over his shoulder. "It's been gone for a thousand years. Everyone we knew has been dead a long time. There'll be no going back there, not for me. No matter how much I wish I could, there's nothing for me to go back to. So I'll make the best of the hand I've been dealt, and the new world I've found myself in. Everyone will just have to forgive me for moving on."

Without any way of returning fire, Shiho stared dumbly after him. She watched his back as he retreated into the upper floor, her mouth opening and closing noiselessly. That's right, she thought. The differences were so vast, that she could easily forget that Spira and the Elemental Nations were one and the same. She _had_, in fact, forgotten. A thousand years had passed since she had watched Tobi murder Shikamaru in front of her very eyes, so even if someone had survived the attack they might have died ten times over of old age by now. For so long she had been all alone, and now she had Naruto by her side. The one person she could share her pain with. But he had made it abundantly clear that if she didn't change her attitude, even he might disappear. The terror of being alone all over again gripped her like claws of ice, and her eyes darted back to the stairwell where Naruto had vanished. She came to the horribly startling conclusion that while she may need him – if only to stave off the loneliness – he, on the other hand, did not need her.

She would endeavour to change that.

* * *

Aside from a colourful menagerie of fiends, particularly Dingos and Raldos kept content with their steady diet of unwary travellers, the hills surrounding the northern parts of the Mi'ihen Highroad and Mushroom Rock are home to a variety of wildlife. The high population of ground-based fiends, coupled with the naturally mountainous terrain, has given rise to a number of interesting bird species found in few other places in Spira. One such creature is known as the Pink Mushroom Anhinga.

While its name may make it out to be little more than a children's tale, the Pink Mushroom Anhinga is indeed very real. The bird is dart-like in appearance: it has a long, sleek body, a spear-like bill and a wide, fanning tail behind it. It stands around the size of a small dog, but extended its wings stretch to the height of a fully grown man. Its feathers are a bright, luminous pink except for those of its tail which are a range of colours, though predominantly black, red and green. Its thin, needle-like beak is not outwardly dangerous, but it uses it to great effect when hunting prey by spearing them viciously and injecting them with a potent toxin from poison sacs in the roof of its mouth, which has the effect of speeding the heart of the creature to dangerous levels until it finally dies of myocardial infarction. Despite this rather brutal hunting method, the Pink Mushroom Anhinga is much-loved by the general populace for its uniquely beautiful appearance.

On this day in particular, one such Anhinga nested within a tree on the outskirts of the craggy Mushroom Rock Road. While the rest of its flock nested high in the hills, this lone bird took a silent vigil, for it was the leader of the flock. Every leader had a special 'accessory', a badge of honour: a crest of jet black feathers atop its head that bunched above its head into the general shape of a mushroom. To have such feathers was considered a sign of authority and strength, and this Anhinga wore its mushroom with pride. It puffed out its rose-coloured breast and gave a soft squawk. There was a rustle in the bushes below, but it was too small and too low to be of any threat to the Anhinga. Content, the bird settled down in its tree, folding its wide wings at its sides comfortably as it resigned itself to the long haul.

"This is an outrage!"

The scream echoed through the trees and, had it not had such purchase on its branch, might've upset the Anhinga and sent it tumbling through the air. But it quickly righted itself, its serpentine neck darting this way and that searching for the noisemaker.

"How dare you speak to a summoner in such a manner!"

The second shriek was just as terrifying as the first. This time, the Anhinga didn't bother wasting time trying to find it: if it was even half as monstrous as it sounded, he certainly didn't want anything to do with it. With a powerful flap it took to the air, slipping away with an indignant squawk in the voice's general direction as it returned to its flock in the hills, ready to tell them the story of the monster with thunder in its voice.

As soon as the sharp yell had left her lips, Dona had donned a grimace, her mouth a firm line. Her hips swayed to and fro like a pendulum as she grew increasingly irate, feet tapping irritably on the soft soil.

"Do you even understand the consequences of keeping me here?" she spat venomously, delighting in the Crusader's uncomfortable flinch. "I am a _summoner! _Every moment I waste here, Sin is out there killing people!"

"I'm well aware of that, ma'am," the Crusader gulped nervously, unnerved by the dangerous fiery flicker in Dona's dark eyes. "But I'm on strict orders from both Maester Kinoc and Maester Seymour. Excepting authorised Crusaders, no one, not even summoners, is allowed access to the Mushroom Rock Road at this time."

"Tch!" Dona scoffed angrily, turning on the ball of her foot. "Barthello, deal with this fool!"

The muscle-bound guardian stepped forward, flexing his powerful limbs, and Dona could feel the fear rolling off of the young warrior in waves. But she also noticed a contingent of Crusaders behind the guard, each strong, capable and far more experienced than this one, draw their swords in readiness to protect their comrade. She huffed and placed a slight hand on Barthello's shoulder, forcing him to halt.

"Fine then," she drawled, looking from the squad to the lone guard. "How long must we wait before we are allowed through?"

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to divulge such information, ma'am!"

"Hopeless!" she yelled, turning back to the road. If she couldn't get through, then there was no point in even being here! She might as well return to the Travel Agency for all it was worth... but as she began to walk, she spied another, much larger group heading toward her. A cruel smirk tugged at the corner of her lip. It was that boy from Kilika! The one who had killed the Sinspawn! With movements as fluid as water she sidled up to the group and snagged the blonde with ease, wrapped herself around his arm like a second sleeve. She was pleasantly surprised by the strength she felt in his muscles, but she didn't dare let that deter her. "Well hello there!" she called out, pressing everything soft and supple into him. "Funny how we keep bumping into each other, isn't it?"

The blonde gave her a dumb look. The others' looks were far more scathing.

"Do I know you?" he asked. She faltered for a moment, but quickly regained her composure and smiled a sultry smile up at him.

"We met in Kilika, don't you remember? You cleared out that big tree for me with your fire magic?"

The boy put on a show of thinking hard, hand to his chin and everything. But when he was finished he looked just as lost as before.

"Nope, sorry. Doesn't ring any bells. Could you let go of me now?"

"Not just yet," she laughed nervously. If he didn't remember who she was, that made it a tad more difficult. But no matter! She still had her feminine wiles to work on him! "See, I've got a little... _problem, _shall we say."

"There are people you can pay to take care of that," he replied, stone-faced. Dona's smile faded into a scowl for a split-second, but she replaced it before he noticed. How dare he talk like that in front of her!

"No, no, not like that. See that guard down there?" she pointed down the hill at the lone Crusader standing at attention. "I've got a very important job to do, and he's not letting me past. But I _really _need to get through. D'you think you could, maybe, take care of that for me?" She pressed her body into his side and made a show of rubbing herself against his sculpted torso, a wicked smile on her face._ "Pretty please? _I'll make it up to you!"

"Sorry, but no," Naruto said flatly, and quite forcefully shoved Dona away. Truth be told, he did indeed remember the cruel, snobbish woman from Kilika Temple, and he remembered that he had no sympathy for that kind of person. He didn't want anything to do with the kind of person that pitched a fit when something wasn't done the way they wanted and tried to manipulate others into getting what they want. There was something so underhanded and dirty about it. So he left her on the side of the road and kept walking, much to the relief of the rest of his party.

"I'm sorry, sir, but by order of the Council of Maesters access to the Mushroom Rock Road has been prohibited at this time!" the guard piped up, quivering nervously. Naruto didn't blame him. If he was in the guard's shoes, even he would tremble when faced with Auron and Kimahri's intimidating silhouettes.

"Yeah, I heard. How come?" he asked casually, and he could see the youngster visibly relax. He wondered just how badly Dona had been laying into him for him to get so stressed.

"I can't tell people, sorry. My commanding officer'll have my head if I give out details of the operation."

"Well, I guess it can't be helped then," Naruto sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "If we don't know why we're waiting, we can't change it."

"Would it help if I told you to let me through?" Yuna chimed in, stepping through the protective shell her guardians had instinctively formed around her. "If I appealed directly to Maester Kinoc and Maester Seymour..."

"I'm afraid not, miss," the guard stopped her. "I've been told not to let anyone through here, _especially _summoners. The Maesters' orders."

"Then a Maester should be able to rescind that directive, correct?"

Naruto started at the sound. It was that voice again! That slimy, slithery tongue that reminded him so much of Orochimaru. And lo and behold, the tall slim build of Seymour Guado descended the hill with a divine grace, attended on either side by two full-blooded Guado servants. He regarded each guardian with a critical eye, all the while maintaining a serene smile, and finally his gaze landed on Yuna. Naruto had the urge to leap in front of her, to shield her from his poisonous eyes with his very body, but force of will kept him grounded. Seymour looked to the guard and smiled again.

"I've returned from Luca," he explained. "Please have Maester Kinoc notified of my arrival."

"O-Of course, Maester, I'll make sure it's done straight away-"

"Hold." The long fingers of the Guado were raised in a flat palm, a silent message to stop. "I have a request. Lady Yuna and her guardians have a very important duty to fulfil, as you well know. I would have you let them through to the command centre immediately."

"But Maester Seymour, Maester Kinoc-"

"I will assume full responsibility." Seymour closed his eyes, and in that instant, with one hand raised and the other hidden within the folds of his robes, and a calm smile upon his noble face, the half-blooded Guado looked for all the world like an emaciated Buddha. Still, the guard had no choice but to nod his consent, and he waved his arm around wildly to signal for the gate to be let open. "I trust this resolves your dilemma, Lady Yuna?"

"Oh! Yes, thank you, Your Grace," Yuna scrambled to bow graciously, her hands twining together in the prayer. Seymour nodded deeply and stepped through the gate, followed by his attendants.

"I don't like him." Naruto looked to his side and saw Shiho had moved to his side, rubbing her arms as though she were cold despite the relatively warm climate. "Something about him rubs me the wrong way. He feels like a snake in the grass."

"Glad it's not just me," Naruto muttered back, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "But I think that's an understatement..."

* * *

**I apologise for the delay, I really do. I wasn't sure how I wanted this chapter to go at first, and then I hit a few speedbumps along the way, but now it's finished and the next one isn't far behind. A few things went over in this chapter which I just want to summarise: Naruto is still very much pissed with Jecht. Not quite in the same way as Tidus, but it's still there. Shiho likening the situation to Sasuke has only exacerbated the problem, because she doesn't truly understand the differences between Sasuke and Jecht. Naruto does, and while he isn't angry at Shiho for misunderstanding, he is angry at Jecht for thinking that he had it hard and at the world in general for creating circumstances that someone like Jecht might be mistaken for Sasuke. It may seem futile and even childish, getting pissed off at the world, but that's Naruto to a T. **

**Secondly, the Kusanagi may no longer be Sasuke's but it still reflects its original master even in Naruto's hands. Wielding Kusanagi will allow Naruto to greatly increase the strength of his fire and lightning release techniques, but it will weaken those of his wind, water and earth release techniques. With this, Naruto's arsenal is complete (at least for now) as he has a main hand weapon (Kusanagi), an off hand weapon (Aoshiira) and a special weapon (Magun). **

**Thirdly, Shiho. She doesn't understand the difference between Jecht and Sasuke because she hasn't met either of them, and is essentially basing her judgement off what she has been told by other people. However, she understands the difference between Spira and Konoha, and unlike Naruto, who accepts the change and adapts to it, Shiho hates it. Without anyone from the Elemental Nations, Shiho's been awfully lonely, so now that she has Naruto she's clinging on to him for dear life, trying to make him see the same way as her so that he won't leave. She has no romantic attraction to Naruto – not right now, at any rate – but she doesn't want to be lonely anymore. For a comparison, imagine Mizore from Rosario+Vampire before she became part of Tsukune's group, when she tried to steal Tsukune away for herself. It's very similar, though Shiho is abrasive rather than shy.**

**Anyway, that's all I really have to say for now. Any questions and suggestions are, as always, very welcome, though I can't say I'll answer all of them because I don't want to give anything major away. Please remember to review and goodnight!**


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